Optiver

Quote from Batman28:

freakygolfer was ur post to me? if u're in london their are plenty of prop houses (20+) if you can't find them, let me know.. Ill tell u exactly how to apply and wot u'll go through..
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errr....firstly, I am not quite sure what the term 'prop houses' means...

Sitting the Optiver's test was a kind of a unexpected thing for me, because I was mainly applying for IB firms in London, and an incidental post of my CV to Optiver got me to the test.

Batman28, do you have any experience on applying for IB firms? or if you ever worked in one of the trading companies? I wonder what is the difference working in there ? Is it like just sitting in front of computer screens all day trading, with little communication with colleague or clients (I suppose the trading firms don't have any clients, they trade with their own money) ?
 
freak, market makers don't have clients, they trade with their own money, thy're proprietary traders hence prop houses..

it is generally a little different form ur typical IB trading floor,.. u have no sales team, no research team etc. it's just u, other traders, and ur back office.. u do communicate generlly it's not like u're not allowed to or anything lol

my expereince of applying to IBs hasn't been too bad, not too good either.. they're very picky and sometimes it's a matter of wot school u went to.. the prop firms u just need to be raw talent, mathematically..

if u're good at a prop house u'd make same money if not more as ib traders..

i haven't worked for any IBs or prop firms.. im actually still studying..ive been to couple of trading firms before to have a look, and ive been on trading floor at morgan stanley just for a show around.. I've been to final rounds at ubs, BNP, n 2nd round at deutche but havent been lucky.. but i wasnt applying for trading.

i personally still don't know wot i want to do and where my life is heading lol

u seriously want to be a trader?
 
Become a trader is not really what I'm after, because I'm don't feel 100% confident with my numerical ability in first reaction. Besides, I don't think the mainstream business of any IB firms is trading, although it generats a large portion of income.

So other things like M&A or Fixed Income (not trading, but sales or etc)are my genuine interets. I went to the first round interview with Deustche too, but I guess I was too inexperience at that time. Apart from that, that's it. Maybe it is like what you said, they are quite sentitive with what school you are in.

May I ask, since you said you are still studying as same as me, where are you studying?
 
im studyin at a uni in london

sales is nice.. much nicer than trading.. lot of girls too lol eqully hard to get tho. the rounds i went to above were all in sales, but right now, i really don't know if thats wot i wanna do.

i honestly don't know where my life is heading, im actually thinking about careers totally outside of finance/banking etc..
 
really? is there any particular thing you hate in this job field? some people is willing take anything to get one of this jobs...

I'm going to do my master degree in London this Sep, and give this job another try when I am there.
 
people generally hear things and get real excited but don't see the other side.. the stress, the pressure..

it's true some people can handle it all but it really drowns u after a while and takes alot out of ur life.. ur job is basically ur life, u gotta be prepared to sacrifice alot. that's one reason why everyone's in their 20s.. no one can do one of these jobs for life.. get there, sacrfice some years of ur life, make money and get out. that's how it works typically.. good money is good, but the stress + 80+hours a week is it really worth it? depends on how u see life really.. chairman of goldman sachs is to become the next US treasury secretary, but how many people realistically can go this far.. u know he makes 800 phone calls a day.. how do some people live their life when they give so much of themselves to their job or money, fame etc..
 
Yo,
I did the test in a careers thing today in Brsibane and just got a phone call saying I passed. Now I'm going to Sydeny to do 3 more tests and an interview. Does anyone know what I should expect? Like is it all pure number games again? Or problem solving?
 
Quote from s4076067:

Yo,
I did the test in a careers thing today in Brsibane and just got a phone call saying I passed. Now I'm going to Sydeny to do 3 more tests and an interview. Does anyone know what I should expect? Like is it all pure number games again? Or problem solving?
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Hey,
What date are you scheduled in for the test?
I am scheduled in for tomorrow afternoon @ 2.30pm. I am from Sydney, so thankfully I dont have to fly interstate to possibly sit an 8minute test.
From what the previous posts have said, the test(s) is/are very math based, especially the first one. The later tests also appear to possibly include a bit of abstract reasoning, e.g. IQ type questions. Alot of these type of questions have come in quite a few of the psyc. exams I've done for the investment banks.

Anyway, good luck with it all, hopefully you might be able to get through, cause I'm not feeling overly confident!

Btw. does anyone know exactly what the dress requirements/expectations are for a firm like Optiver? In the email they sent about the test, they said to dress casually. What exactly does this mean? I was thinking of just wearing a suit minus the jacket, possibly with the sleeves rolled up, or is this over-dressing?
 
If you're even thinking about this job, you must be able to do some maths.
1st Test - 80 questions, 8 mins = 6 seconds per question
HINT #1 - don't drop your pen! That'll cost you dearly.

You just have to go for it. They are not hard. I thought I would have preferred to have a watch, but don't waste your time looking at it. Sit down and when they say go, GO like you never have before. Don't stop, don't skip, just go crazy.

First set of interviews is standard stuff, more from HR perspective than traders perspective.

Also has two more tests. Same sort of stuff. 3rd test is different a bit, so be ready to make a switch in your mind.

Next interviews are more from traders perspective. I got the job. I showed a previous interest in field (helped I think that i trade provately). Asked me a fairly basic multi part options question that lead to a recognisation of put call parity. They aren't looking for huge in depth knowledge, but an interest, a drive, and the sharpness and ability to do it damm well.

Obviously you need to pass the tests, but not all I don't think. I did extremely well in first two, and stuffed up the third completely, but got through to last rounf on first two tests.

GOOD LUCK
 
Hey guys, i was just wondering if anyone knows what the failure rate is at Optiver for new intakes?
I was told during the interviews that nearly half of the ppl they took on during their last intake failed.
Also what would be the causes for the failures?

Thanks
 
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