PRACTICE GUIDE FLOW TRADERS
Flow Traders Maths Practice Test
The Flow Traders maths screen is 60 questions in 6 minutes - about 6 seconds each - answered by typing the number, with no calculator. It marks negatively, so a wrong answer costs you a mark and a skip costs you nothing.
Where it sits: First online round. 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 Flow Traders.
A timed numerical test early in the process is widely reported, in the same speed-arithmetic family as Optiver's.
Outcry is not affiliated with Flow Traders 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 Flow Traders’s own.
What it screens
A liquidity provider specialising in ETFs, with offices in Amsterdam, New York, Cluj, Hong Kong and Singapore.
- ✓Two-digit multiplication and division without writing anything down
- ✓Fraction and decimal conversion at a glance
- ✓Percentage moves in both directions (a 20% drop needs +25% to recover)
- ✓Knowing when to skip: negative marking punishes guessing
Where it sits at Flow Traders
This section does not arrive on its own. It opens the paper, and the sitting around it runs 32 minutes and 86 items in total, with Sequences 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 Flow Traders sitting on this site runs on, matching the format candidates report.
| Questions | 60 |
|---|---|
| Time | 6 minutes |
| Per question | 6 seconds |
| Negative marking | Yes - a wrong answer costs a mark |
| Answer style | Typed numeric answer, no calculator |
| Where it sits | First online round |
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 Flow Traders’s.
Two-digit multiplication
Products you are expected to reach by splitting rather than by long multiplication.
Example 1
16 × 24
Answer 384
(20−4)(20+4) = 20² − 4² = 400 − 16 = 384.
Example 2
45 × 55
Answer 2475
(50−5)(50+5) = 50² − 5² = 2500 − 25 = 2475.
Example 3
6/7 × 14
Answer 12
14 ÷ 7 = 2, then × 6 = 12.
Percentages both ways
A percentage of a number, and the move needed to undo one - a 20% fall needs a 25% rise.
Example
Which word is most nearly the OPPOSITE of RIGID?
- weekly
- flexible
- punctual
- fragrant
Answer flexible
RIGID will not bend and flexible will. None of the others reverses it: fragrant means sweet-smelling, weekly means happening every week, punctual means on time.
Mixed operations under a clock
Several steps in one item, where the order you take them decides whether it fits in the time.
Example 1
337 × 5 = ?
Answer 1685
× 5 is × 10 ÷ 2: 3,370/2 = 1,685.
Example 2
3^5 = ?
Answer 243
3^5 = 243, so 3^5 = 243.
Example 3
14/16 as a decimal, three decimal places?
Answer 0.875
1/16 = 0.063, so 14/16 = 0.875.
Knowing when to skip
On a negatively marked paper an item you cannot see a route through is worth leaving.
Additive chains
Long sums and differences where grouping to round numbers beats working left to right.
Example 1
4/11 of 352 = ?
Answer 128
352/11 = 32, times 4 = 128.
Example 2
489 × 99 = ?
Answer 48411
× 99 is × 100 minus one: 48,900 - 489 = 48,411.
Example 3
35% of 240 = ?
Answer 84
1% of 240 is 2.4, so 35% is 84.
Order of operations under pressure
Items written to punish reading left to right instead of resolving the structure first.
Example 1
5x + 4y = 71 and 2x + 9y = 95. What is x?
Answer 7
Eliminate y: multiply the first by 9 and the second by 4, subtract, and x = 7. Then y = 9.
Example 2
181 × 21 = ?
Answer 3801
181 × 20 = 3,620, plus 181 × 1 = 181, giving 3,801.
Example 3
26 × 34 = ?
Answer 884
26 × 30 = 780, plus 26 × 4 = 104, giving 884.
What a good score looks like
On a paper of 60 questions marked +1 and -1, the arithmetic of the threshold matters as much as the threshold: every wrong answer costs you two places against someone who skipped it. Candidates most often report a pass mark around 70 per cent of the questions attempted correctly, with the strongest scores well above that. Nothing here is a published figure: firms move these by role, region and year, and most never state them at all.
How to train for it
- 01Drill the arithmetic cold, untimed, until you stop making careless errors. Speed on top of shaky accuracy is worth negative marks on a paper that subtracts.
- 02Add the clock and hold the accuracy. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one the screen measures.
- 03Learn a handful of identities rather than more speed: difference of squares, multiplying by 11, halving and doubling. They convert a hard item into an easy one.
TRAIN IT HERE
The drills that match each section
Arithmetic Drill
2.5 timed minutes of exactly this question mix, with a ghost of your best past run to race.
Duck Duck Dash
Endless mental-math runner - one mistake ends the run, and the questions climb through ten difficulty tiers.
Sequence Sprint
Pattern recognition under the same per-question time pressure.
SIT THE FULL BATTERY
All the sections back to back on one clock, marked the way the real screen marks them, with a by-skill breakdown at the end. Included with any pass.
Also reported at Flow Traders
Common questions
- Is the Flow Traders maths 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 Flow Traders maths test?
- 60 questions in 6 minutes, which is about 6 seconds each.
- Is there negative marking on the Flow Traders maths test?
- Yes. A wrong answer costs you a mark, so an item you cannot see a route through is worth skipping outright - a blind guess on this paper is negative expected value.
- 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 Flow Traders Trading Assessment sitting puts the sections back to back on one clock.
Hiring now: current Flow Traders quant openings, refreshed daily.