PRACTICE GUIDE OPTIVER
Optiver Market Making Practice Test
Optiver does not publish the shape of its market making screen, and candidates describe it as 6 to 20 questions in 10 to 30 minutes, roughly one to three minutes per question, answered by typing the number, with no calculator.
Those are ranges across firms running this format rather than Optiver's own figures, so treat them as the shape to train against and check the instruction screen on the day for the marking rule.
Outcry is not affiliated with Optiver 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 Optiver’s own.
What it screens
A global market maker headquartered in Amsterdam, trading options, ETFs and futures on major exchanges.
- ✓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 Optiver
A global market maker headquartered in Amsterdam, trading options, ETFs and futures on major exchanges. What that means for the screen is that the questions tend to be drawn from the work rather than from a textbook, so the format below is the shape to train against rather than a syllabus.
Candidates also report 4 other screens at Optiver, covered separately on this site. Where a firm runs several, they usually sit in one round rather than spread across the process, so the pacing of the whole set matters more than any single section.
The format
Optiver does not publish this screen's shape, and it varies between firms, so these are the ranges candidates report rather than exact figures.
| Questions | 6 to 20 |
|---|---|
| Time | 10 to 30 minutes |
| Per question | one to three minutes |
| Negative marking | No |
| Answer style | Typed price, spread or size |
| Where it sits | Later round, often live with a trader |
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 Optiver’s.
Pricing under partial information
Half the board is hidden, and the quote has to price what you cannot see.
Example
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 E D 2 U L 3 R B 4 Q M 5 O ? 6 ? ? 7 ? ? 8 ? ? 9 S Y 10 X P 11 N W 12 A F 13 V K Rows 5 to 8 were face down, holding C, G, H, I, J, O, T, Z. One cell has been turned over and shows O in row 5.
One face-down cell is turned over. What is one unit of a wager on I worth now, in dollars?
Answer -0.29
7 cells are still unknown and I is equally likely in each. Row 5 has one free cell left, the other 3 rows have two each, so the average row is 47 ÷ 7 = 6.71 and the wager is worth -0.29. Turning over one cell shifts the average away from the row that was revealed.
Adverse selection
Whoever trades with you may know something. Size and spread are the defence.
Example
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 L S 2 U M 3 V P 4 D I 5 Q X 6 W J 7 E O 8 C N 9 H F 10 K Y 11 G R 12 A T 13 B Z
You have to show a two-way market 2 wide on G, centred on fair value. Where is your bid, in dollars?
Answer 3
G is worth 11 - 7 = 4. A market 2 wide centred there is 3 bid, 5 offered.
Option mechanics
Payoffs, parity and moneyness, at the speed a trading floor asks them.
Example
You are long the stock at $90, long the $80 put and short the $80 call, both expiring in 12 months. What is this and what is it worth at expiry?
- A conversion - it is worth exactly $80 at expiry whatever the stock does.
- A straddle - it pays off on a big move in either direction.
- A collar - the upside is capped but it still moves with the stock.
- A reversal - the stock leg is the wrong way round for a conversion.
Answer A conversion - it is worth exactly $80 at expiry whatever the stock does.
Value at expiry is S + max(80 - S, 0) - max(S - 80, 0) = 80 at every level. Above the strike the short call takes the stock away at 80; below it the put sells it at 80. The whole package is a zero coupon bond worth $77.64 today, so a conversion is a funding trade - market makers put them on to lend, not to take a view.
The Greeks
Delta, gamma, vega and theta as directions rather than formulas.
Example
An at the money option with 24 months left is worth $6.81. At the same vol, roughly what is the 12 month worth?
Answer 4.82
Value goes with root T, so halving the time multiplies the price by root(1/2) = 0.71: $6.81 x 0.71 = $4.82. Half the time is not half the price - it is about 71% of it. Four times the time doubles the price, which is the same rule read the other way.
Sizing the trade
How much to do at your own price, which is a different question from what the price is.
Example
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 X L 2 P B 3 G C 4 F Q 5 M T 6 N E 7 I J 8 Z W 9 R U 10 Y K 11 S A 12 V D 13 O H
A counterparty has already seen the winning row. You have not. They offer to sell you one unit of U at 1, and they make that offer only when selling is good for them. What is the expected profit in dollars if you buy?
Answer -3
Unconditionally U is worth 2, so 1 looks like 1 of edge. But they only offer when the score is below 1, which is 5 of the 13 rows: scores 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, averaging -2. The trade you actually get is worth -2 - 1 = -3. The offer itself is the information.
Expected value of a wager
Pricing a payoff before quoting around it, because a quote is an expected value with a margin.
Example
A market quotes odds of 2-to-3 against an event. What is the implied probability?
- 150%
- 60%
- 66.7%
- 40%
Answer 60%
Odds of 2-to-3 against means 3 favourable out of 5 total: 3/5 = 60%.
What a good score looks like
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
- 01Practise saying the spread out loud with a reason attached. Width without a reason reads as guessing.
- 02Play a round where you get filled and have to re-quote. The update is what the round is actually testing.
- 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
Market Maker
Quote spreads, take fills, and manage inventory against informed flow.
Poker Market Making
Make a market on the sum of card ranks and requote as each card is revealed.
Basket Arbitrage
Spot mispricings between a basket and its components before they close.
Delta Defender
Keep a book hedged as the underlying moves - free to play.
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 Optiver
Common questions
- Is the Optiver market making test multiple choice?
- Reported as typed price, spread or size. Formats move, so treat this as the shape rather than a guarantee.
- How long is the Optiver market making test?
- Candidates report 6 to 20 questions in 10 to 30 minutes, roughly one to three minutes per question.
- Is there negative marking on the Optiver market making 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.