A big and well-known name in quantitative trading firms around the world is Citadel Securities. There are a lot of people who want to interview with them, so you need to be fully prepared to stand out. I’ll talk about Citadel Securities in general terms and give you insider tips on how to do well in your interview, along with the most common questions they ask.
Overview of Citadel Securities
Citadel Securities is a leading global quantitative trading firm based in Chicago. They trade securities and derivatives across many asset classes using cutting edge technology and algorithms. Some key facts:
- Founded in 2002 as a division of Citadel LLC
- Employs over 1,500 people globally
- Trades over 25% of U.S. listed retail volume
- Multi-asset class platform trades equities, FX, fixed income, commodities, and derivatives
They recruit top talent in trading quant research software engineering, and other functions. Competition is fierce, with <1% of applicants receiving offers.
Insider Tips for Citadel Securities Interviews
Here are some tips from former employees and candidates who have interviewed with Citadel Securities:
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Quantitative focus – Be prepared for highly quantitative questions on statistics, probability, market trading mechanisms, programming, and mental math. Having a STEM background is preferred.
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Market knowledge – Brush up on current events, market trends, and how certain products work (e.g options, futures) Show an interest in financial markets.
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Behavioral fit – They assess cultural fit and how aligned you are with Citadel Securities values like driven analytical competitive, meritocratic.
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Technical competence – You must demonstrate strong technical skills in your area of expertise, whether it’s C++, Python, market microstructure, etc. They drill deeply into candidates’ competencies.
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Practice extensively – Many questions have optimal solutions or ways to approach them. Practicing alone and doing mock interviews will help prepare you.
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Ask insightful questions – Have thoughtful questions ready about their trading strategies, technology, team structures, etc. to show your interest and curiosity.
Most Common Citadel Securities Interview Questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked Citadel Securities interview questions across both technical and behavioral rounds:
Quantitative
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Calculate the standard deviation of a normal distribution with mean 10 and variance 25.
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How would you price an European call option using the Black-Scholes model? What are the key inputs and assumptions?
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You are given 100 coin flips that resulted in 50 heads and 50 tails. If you flipped the coin another 100 times, what would you expect the number of heads and tails to be? Explain your reasoning.
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How can you tell if a time series dataset is stationary or non-stationary? What methods could you use to make a non-stationary time series stationary?
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What is a limit order book and how does it work? How would you design a simple limit order book?
Market Knowledge
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Walk me through how a trade is executed on the NASDAQ exchange, from order placement to execution.
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What is high frequency trading (HFT)? What advantages and risks are associated with HFT strategies?
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What are some common arbitrage strategies used by trading firms?
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Explain what negative rebate rates are in the context of market microstructure.
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What are some key differences between futures and options? When would you choose one over the other?
Behavioral
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Tell me about a time you solved a complex quantitative problem. What was the situation and how did you approach it?
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Describe a situation where you had to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve a common goal. What was your role and what steps did you take?
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What appeals to you most about quantitative trading compared to other finance roles? Why are you interested in this field and Citadel Securities specifically?
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How do you handle ambiguity and uncertainty? Give me an example of when you had to make a data-driven decision with incomplete information.
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How do you prioritize tasks when you have multiple projects with tight deadlines? Walk me through your approach.
Technical
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Write a function to reverse a string in C++. What edge cases should you take into consideration?
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Implement a depth-first search algorithm on a binary tree data structure.
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Design a simple class structure to represent an options trade. What attributes would you include?
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Explain how you would build a tick-by-tick order book simulator for a stock. What data structures and methods would you need?
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Given two sorted arrays, write a function to merge them into a single sorted array.
Preparing for interviews with Citadel Securities takes time and dedication. Mastering the technical fundamentals, understanding their focus areas, and practicing questions that emulate their style will help give you an edge. With the right preparation, you can confidently tackle any question they throw your way.
Interviews at Citadel Securities
Citadel is a prominent American hedge fund and financial services company. Kenneth Griffin started Citadel in 1990, and it has grown to become one of the biggest and best hedge funds in the world. As of March 1, 2023, it had over $57 billion in invested capital.
They operate across various asset classes and geographies:
- Goods: They are the biggest alternative investment managers in the gold and silver markets.
- Credit and Convertibles: They represent one of the largest alternative investment firms in the United States. S. corporate credit markets.
- Equities: Equities is one of Citadel’s biggest and oldest businesses.
- Fixed income and macro: They are a top fixed income and macro business around the world.
- Global Quantitative Strategies (GQS) is the biggest and fastest-growing quantitative team in the business.
The company has its HQ in Miami, Florida, and offices throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. Founder, CEO, and Co-CIO Griffin own approximately 85% of the firm.
From Seasoned leaders to recruits, every team member helps develop and execute powerful insights. They bring together brilliant minds to do what others consider impossible.
- At the international level, their team has won 20 medals in math, physics, chemistry, and informatics as of October 2022.
- 40% of team members hold an advanced degree.
- 60 different PhDs in 50 different fields of study, ranging from computer science and statistics to aeronautics and atmospheric science
- The team involves over 50+ members across different nationalities.
Citadel employs some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. So because of this, Citadel has a reputation for being a difficult place to interview.
So, candidates are asked hard, complicated questions that are only meant to test their knowledge, critical thinking, and ability to solve problems.
Citadel’s hiring process can be different depending on the job you’re applying for, but in general, it has several steps, such as:
1. Application
The first step is to apply for a job at Citadel through their career website.
Once you get there, fill in all the required information they ask you to submit, i. e. , Resume/CV and all the other important job-related documents.
Also, try to keep your resume or CV to one page. This will make the process much easier and increase your chances of getting past the first round.
2. Online Assessment
If the candidates application meets Citadels requirements, they will be invited to take an online assessment.
There are several parts to the online test that allow them to see how well you can think critically and solve problems, as well as how well you can work under pressure.
So ensure you are prepared nicely to ace the round and move further to the next round, i. e. , Phone Interview.
3. Phone Interview
People who do well on the online test will be called in for a phone interview with a recruiter or member of the hiring team.
The interviewer may also ask about the candidate’s desire to work at Citadel and how much they know about the stock market.
4. Technical Interview
Candidates who pass the phone interview will be invited to a technical interview. The technical discussion tests the candidates’ knowledge of financial markets and quantitative methods as well as their ability to solve difficult problems.
You may be asked about macroeconomic factors and how they impact financial markets and your decision-making.
Guy who make it through the technical round will be invited to a Super Day, an all-day event with interviews with Citadel’s hiring team.
The goal of the Super Day is to see how well the candidates fit with Citadel’s culture and values, as well as how well they can solve problems and use technology.
6. Final Decision
After Super Day, the hiring team will decide whether to extend an offer to the candidate. In the event that the candidate is chosen, Citadel will send them a job offer letter with more information about the pay and benefits.
Here are some behavioral questions that will help you do well in any interview, no matter what stage of the hiring process it is:
The example can be set up in any way that fits your specific use case, but it must be in the form of the STAR method:
- (S)ituation: Clearly describe the situation or challenge
- (T)ask: Explain your role in the situation
- (A)ction: Describe the actions you took to complete the task
- (R)esult: Describe the outcome & what you learned
These are just a few examples. We hope you understand how the questions will be set up, remember the STAR method for answering them, and use that in your own unique way.
Here are some common technical interview questions from Citadel and some sample answers to help you get ready for your next interview.
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WACC is an essential component while making a discounted cash flow model. Wall Street Oasis has a free DCF crash course that you can take to learn more about the subject. If you’re interested in DCF modeling, you can check out the DCF modeling course.
Citadel SecuritiesHedge Funds
Based on the Interview Insights at this company, the Interview Experience is a score between 1 star (very bad) and 5 stars (very good).
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. If you move your mouse over the different parts of the doughnut, you’ll see exactly how each score was calculated.
The title percentile score is based on an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates that is applied to the whole Company Database. This is done to account for companies that don’t have many interview insights. The confidence in a “true score” rises as more reviews are given about a business. This causes the score to move closer to its simple average and away from the average of the whole dataset. 3. 3.
Based on the Interview Insights at this company, the Interview Difficulty is a score that goes from “very difficult” (red) to “very easy” (green).
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. This doughnut has different parts that, when you move your mouse over them, show you the 20% breakdown of each score given.
The title percentile score is based on an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates that is applied to the whole Company Database. This is done to account for companies that don’t have many interview insights. That is, as a business learns more, it becomes more sure of a “true score,” which moves it closer to its own simple average and away from the overall average of the data set. 3. 5.
Based on reviews at this company, the 20% of interns getting full-time offers chart is meant to give you a good idea of how the company hires people.
The number in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the mean of all these scores. This doughnut has different parts that, when you move your mouse over them, show you the 20% breakdown of each score given.
It uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates to account for companies that don’t have many reviews, which is how the percentile score in the title is found. To put it simply, when a business gets more reviews, the “true score” becomes more likely to be accurate. This makes it move closer to the simple company average and away from the average of all the data points. 53%.
Quantitative Researcher Interviews – Andrew, Quantitative Researcher at Citadel
What was the interview like at Citadel Securities?
I interviewed at Citadel Securities Phone call with head of futures. Basic discussion with some questions which later were found out to be CFA level three questions about futures. Was rather informal and just one person around a conference table
How long does it take to interview at Citadel Securities?
The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Citadel Securities 5 round on site; 2 technical interviews, 2 behavioral interviews, 1 chat with a head of desk. Be prepared to answer general statistics questions and some market making questions (which may come in the form of games)
How long does it take to get a job at Citadel?
each round is around 50mins, ask some prob stats questions, some coding questions, some resume questions, if you pass a round, you will hear back on the same day, the interview might not care and use their phone, some other interviewer will guide you to answer I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Citadel Securities
Is Citadel a difficult place to interview?
Citadel employs some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. So because of this, Citadel has a reputation for being a difficult place to interview. As a result, candidates face tough and complex questions designed for the sole purpose of testing the candidate’s knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
