PRACTICE GUIDE   AKUNA CAPITAL

Akuna Capital Open Board Practice Test

The Akuna Capital open board screen is 6 questions in 5 minutes - about 45 seconds each - answered by typing the number, with no calculator. There is no negative marking, so leaving an item blank gains you nothing over guessing.

Where it sits: Second round, recorded. The practice sitting on this page runs the same item count, the same clock and the same marking rule, with questions generated by Outcry rather than taken from Akuna Capital.

Outcry is not affiliated with Akuna Capital and has no access to their assessment content. This guide describes an assessment format that candidates report publicly; the questions here are generated by Outcry and are not Akuna Capital’s own.

What it screens

A Chicago options market maker with a strong C++ and derivatives-pricing focus.

• ✓Setting a bid-ask spread that reflects your uncertainty
• ✓Updating quotes after a fill (adverse selection - the person who traded knows something)
• ✓Inventory management: skewing quotes to flatten a position
• ✓Hedging exposure instead of letting it build

Where it sits at Akuna Capital

This section does not arrive on its own. It opens the paper, and the sitting around it runs 18 minutes and 18 items in total, with Hidden board and Sizing and adverse selection on the same continuous clock. Candidates who prepare only for this round tend to be caught by the pacing of the rest.

There is no going back. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, which means the decision to leave an item is final at the moment you make it.

The format

These are the numbers the Akuna Capital sitting on this site runs on, matching the format candidates report.

What it tests, with a worked example

Every example below is generated by Outcry, drawn from the same question generators the timed drills run. None of them is Akuna Capital’s.

HOW IT SCORES
One of the 13 rows is drawn at random as the winning row. Every
row is equally likely. A letter scores its own row number minus
the winning row number, and a wager pays that score in dollars
per unit.

ROW      LEFT   RIGHT
---------------------
  1      K      P
  2      F      S
  3      M      T
  4      Q      L
  5      Z      W
  6      A      R
  7      Y      U
  8      G      E
  9      O      B
 10      D      X
 11      I      J
 12      C      N
 13      H      V

HOW IT SCORES
One of the 13 rows is drawn at random as the winning row. Every
row is equally likely. A letter scores its own row number minus
the winning row number, and a wager pays that score in dollars
per unit.

ROW      LEFT   RIGHT
---------------------
  1      D      M
  2      F      Y
  3      B      E
  4      T      A
  5      ?      ?
  6      ?      ?
  7      ?      ?
  8      ?      ?
  9      O      Q
 10      K      S
 11      I      R
 12      C      W
 13      G      X

Rows 5 to 8 are face down. Between them they hold
H, J, L, N, P, U, V, Z, but not in any stated order.

HOW IT SCORES
One of the 13 rows is drawn at random as the winning row. Every
row is equally likely. A letter scores its own row number minus
the winning row number, and a wager pays that score in dollars
per unit.

ROW      LEFT   RIGHT
---------------------
  1      M      Z
  2      A      K
  3      L      Y
  4      C      Q
  5      O      R
  6      G      F
  7      E      N
  8      D      S
  9      I      P
 10      X      J
 11      H      V
 12      W      T
 13      B      U

A single-letter wager carries 3.74 dollars of standard deviation
per unit, because the winning row is uniform on 1 to 13.

What a good score looks like

On a paper of 6 questions with no penalty for a wrong answer, the only thing an unanswered question can do is cost you. There is no score to report on most of these. Market-making rounds are judged on the reasoning you narrate as much as the number you land on, which is why candidates describe them as the hardest round to prepare for and the easiest to improve at.

How to train for it

1. 01Get fast on fair value first. You cannot quote around a number you are still computing.
2. 02Practise saying the spread out loud with a reason attached. Width without a reason reads as guessing.
3. 03Quote wider than feels comfortable to begin with, then tighten. A trader can talk you down from a wide market; a blown-out fill does not come back.

TRAIN IT HERE

The drills that match each section

Also reported at Akuna Capital

• 80-in-8 mental mathGuide
• Number sequencesGuide
• Probability & estimationGuide
• Quant developer codingGuide

Common questions

Is the Akuna Capital open board test multiple choice?

Typed numeric answer, no calculator. You type the number, so there is nothing to eliminate your way to.

How long is the Akuna Capital open board test?

6 questions in 5 minutes, which is about 45 seconds each.

Is there negative marking on the Akuna Capital open board test?

No. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so leaving an item blank is never better than guessing at it.

How do I practise for it free?

Every drill linked on this page is free to play, with no account, inside a daily run cap. Questions are generated fresh each run, so there is nothing to memorise between attempts. The full Akuna Grid Game sitting puts the sections back to back on one clock.