PRACTICE GUIDE WINCENT
Wincent Market Making: what the test is, and how to train for it
Wincent 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 Wincent'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 Wincent 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 Wincent’s own.
What it screens
A crypto market maker running high-frequency trading strategies across digital-asset 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 Wincent
A crypto market maker running high-frequency trading strategies across digital-asset 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 one other screen at Wincent, 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
Wincent 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 Wincent’s.
Quoting a two-sided market
A bid and an ask around a fair value, wide enough to survive being wrong.
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 Z A 2 K Y 3 T J 4 B S 5 L D 6 I Q 7 P U 8 G E 9 X N 10 F W 11 V O 12 M H 13 R C
A market maker shows minus 10.5 bid, minus 7.5 offered on K. What is the best edge available to you, in dollars a unit?
Answer 2.5
K is worth -5. The offer of minus 7.5 is below that, so you buy and collect -5 - -7.5 = 2.5.
Pricing under partial information
Half the board is hidden, and the quote has to price what you cannot see.
Example 1
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 N A 2 Y Q 3 V T 4 I W 5 R X 6 D Z 7 E U 8 H O 9 C M 10 J P 11 L G 12 K B 13 F S The board is written in a cipher. Every letter shown is the letter 3 places later in the alphabet than the real one, wrapping from Z to A.
What is one unit of a wager on D worth, in dollars?
Answer 4
D is written as G on the board, and G is in row 11. The wager is worth 11 - 7 = 4.
Example 2
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.
You hold 20 units of Z. What is the worst the position can score, in dollars?
Answer -160
The worst case stacks both unknowns against you: Z in row 5, the highest of the face-down rows, and row 13 winning. That is 5 - 13 = -8 a unit, or -160 over 20.
Example 3
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 P F 2 B D 3 X U 4 I Z 5 Q M 6 A E 7 Y G 8 T V 9 C H 10 N J 11 ? ? 12 ? ? 13 ? ? Rows 11 to 13 are face down. Between them they hold K, L, O, R, S, W, but not in any stated order.
What is the probability a wager on W scores above zero? Answer as a percentage.
Answer 84.6
From row r the chance is (r - 1) ÷ 13. Averaging r over rows 11 to 13 gives 12, so the answer is (12 - 1) ÷ 13 = 84.6%.
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 H G 2 L P 3 I O 4 C Y 5 Z U 6 E W 7 Q N 8 S D 9 X B 10 J A 11 F R 12 T K 13 V M
You are long 20 units of Q and short 20 units of J. What does the combined position score, whichever row wins, in dollars?
Answer -60
The winning row cancels between the two legs: 20 × ((7 - W) - (10 - W)) = 20 × -3 = -60, for every W. Matching size on two letters turns a bet on the draw into a fixed amount.
Option mechanics
Payoffs, parity and moneyness, at the speed a trading floor asks them.
Example
You sell the $80 put at $8.40 and buy the $60 put at $2.40, same expiry. What is the most this can lose, per share?
Answer 14
The credit taken in is $8.40 - $2.40 = $6.00, which is the best case. The worst case is the stock below 60, where the 20 point gap is owed in full: 20 - $6.00 = $14.00. A credit spread collects a little often and pays out a lot rarely - the strike gap bounds the damage, which is the only reason it is sellable.
The Greeks
Delta, gamma, vega and theta as directions rather than formulas.
Example
You are long 20 of the $60 calls at delta 0.42, short 50 of the $70 puts at delta -0.25, and short 500 shares. Contracts are on 100 shares each. What is the book's net delta, in shares?
Answer 1590
Long calls: 20 x 100 x 0.42 = 840. Short puts: -50 x 100 x (-0.25) = +1250, because shorting a negative delta is long delta. Short stock: -500. Net = 840 + 1250 - 500 = 1590 shares. The sign on the short put leg is where books get added up wrong.
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 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.
Your sizing rule is edge divided by variance, times bankroll. The variance of one unit is 14. With a bankroll of $7000, how many dollars do you put on T at 2?
Answer 1500
T is worth 5 and costs 2, so the edge is 3. 7000 × 3 ÷ 14 = 1500. Double the edge and you double the size, double the variance and you halve it.
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
- 01Get fast on fair value first. You cannot quote around a number you are still computing.
- 02Practise saying the spread out loud with a reason attached. Width without a reason reads as guessing.
- 03Play a round where you get filled and have to re-quote. The update is what the round is actually testing.
TRAIN IT HERE
The drills that match each section
Market Maker
Quote spreads, take fills, and manage inventory against informed flow.
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 Wincent
Common questions
- Is the Wincent 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 Wincent 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 Wincent 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.