How to Get a Job at IMC Trading

IMC Trading is a global proprietary trading firm and market maker founded in 1989 in Amsterdam. The firm started as an options market maker on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and has grown into one of the largest and most sophisticated market-making operations in the world. IMC trades across equities, fixed income, ETFs, and derivatives on over 100 exchanges globally, providing liquidity that helps keep markets efficient and orderly.

IMC's core strength lies in options market making. The firm has decades of expertise in pricing and trading options — understanding implied volatility surfaces, managing Greeks, and hedging complex portfolios. This deep options knowledge permeates the firm's culture and interview process. Beyond options, IMC has expanded into algorithmic trading across multiple asset classes, using quantitative models and advanced technology to identify and capture trading opportunities.

With approximately 1,000 employees across offices in Amsterdam, Chicago, and Sydney, IMC is large enough to have world-class infrastructure but small enough that individual contributions matter. The firm invests heavily in technology — building proprietary trading systems, risk management platforms, and research tools in-house. IMC is also known for its philanthropic arm, IMC Foundation, which has donated hundreds of millions to education and social causes, reflecting the firm's commitment to using its success for broader impact.

IMC's culture is deeply shaped by its Dutch origins — direct, egalitarian, and collaborative. The firm operates with a flat hierarchy where ideas are judged on their merit rather than the seniority of the person proposing them. New analysts are encouraged to challenge existing approaches and contribute ideas from day one. This openness creates an environment where innovation can come from anywhere in the organization.

The firm places enormous emphasis on teamwork and knowledge sharing. Unlike some competitors where individual PnL is the primary metric, IMC evaluates people based on their contribution to the team. Traders share strategies, researchers collaborate across groups, and there is a genuine culture of helping colleagues succeed. This team-oriented approach is tested in the interview process through group exercises and collaborative problem-solving scenarios.

IMC also invests heavily in training and development. New hires go through an extensive multi-month training program covering options theory, trading strategies, risk management, and the firm's proprietary systems. The training is rigorous — IMC expects all traders to develop deep theoretical understanding, not just practical skills. The firm's social culture is also strong, with regular team events, sports activities, and an emphasis on maintaining work-life balance. Many employees describe IMC as intellectually stimulating but less "always-on" than some New York-based competitors.

IMC looks for candidates who combine strong quantitative ability with genuine teamwork skills. The ideal candidate can reason quickly about probability and options pricing, perform rapid mental arithmetic, and work collaboratively to solve complex problems. Unlike some firms that prioritize individual brilliance above all else, IMC explicitly evaluates whether candidates will thrive in and contribute to a team environment.

For trading roles, the firm wants people with excellent mental math ability — the capacity to compute prices, probabilities, and Greeks quickly and accurately under pressure. Strong foundations in probability theory, statistics, and options pricing are essential. Experience with competitive math, physics, or programming competitions is a positive signal, as is coursework or research in financial engineering, stochastic calculus, or applied probability.

IMC also values practical decision-making skills — the ability to make good decisions quickly with incomplete information. Trading is fundamentally about managing uncertainty, and IMC wants candidates who can stay calm under pressure, adapt their thinking as new information arrives, and balance speed with accuracy. The firm hires from a range of backgrounds including mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering, and does not require prior finance knowledge. What matters most is raw quantitative ability, a collaborative mindset, and the intellectual curiosity to learn quickly.

IMC's interview process typically consists of 3 to 5 rounds conducted over 3 to 6 weeks. The process is designed to evaluate quantitative skills, options knowledge, mental math speed, and cultural fit. IMC's interviews are known for their emphasis on collaborative group exercises alongside traditional individual assessments.

The general structure is:

• Online assessment (1 round): A timed quantitative test covering mental math, probability, logical reasoning, and sometimes basic options pricing. This serves as the initial filter and typically needs to be completed within a tight time window. Speed and accuracy are both critical.
• Phone/video screen (1 round): A 45-60 minute technical interview covering probability, expected value, and basic trading scenarios. Interviewers assess your quantitative reasoning, communication skills, and how you approach problems under time pressure.
• Assessment day / super-day (2-3 rounds): The core of the process. This full-day assessment includes individual technical interviews, a group trading exercise, and behavioral discussions. The group exercise is distinctive to IMC — candidates work together in a simulated trading environment, and interviewers evaluate both individual performance and teamwork.
• Final round: A conversation with senior leadership focused on motivation, cultural fit, and long-term career goals.

Throughout the process, IMC pays close attention to how you collaborate with others. Candidates who are technically brilliant but poor team players often do not advance. The firm wants people who can disagree constructively, share information openly, and contribute to a positive team dynamic — even in competitive settings.

Each stage of the IMC interview tests specific competencies. Here is a detailed breakdown:

Mental Math: Speed and accuracy with arithmetic is a hard requirement at IMC. The online assessment includes rapid-fire calculations — addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of multi-digit numbers under severe time pressure. Practice with tools like Zetamac and aim for a score of 45+ in two minutes. During in-person rounds, you may face additional timed mental math challenges. Explore questions from our IMC interview question bank for practice.

Options Pricing and Greeks: IMC's roots in options market making mean that options knowledge is tested more heavily than at some competitors. You should understand Black-Scholes fundamentals, put-call parity, the Greeks (delta, gamma, theta, vega), and how implied volatility surfaces work. Interview questions may ask you to price a simple option, explain how delta hedging works, or reason about how a portfolio's risk changes with market movements. You don't need to be an expert, but demonstrating genuine understanding of options mechanics gives you a significant advantage.

Probability and Trading Scenarios: Expect problems on conditional probability, expected value, and decision-making under uncertainty. IMC often frames these as trading scenarios — you might be asked to price a bet, evaluate a trading opportunity, or determine whether a given strategy is profitable. The key is to demonstrate structured thinking and the ability to compute accurately under pressure.

Group Trading Exercise: This is IMC's signature assessment component. Candidates are placed in a simulated trading environment where they must collaborate, compete, and make real-time decisions. Interviewers watch for leadership, communication, risk management, and the ability to synthesize information from multiple sources. Practice by participating in trading simulations or mock markets with friends before your interview.

Behavioral and Teamwork Assessment: IMC explicitly evaluates cultural fit. You'll be asked about experiences working in teams, handling disagreements, and situations where you helped others succeed. The firm values humility, curiosity, and genuine collaborative instincts. Show that you are someone who elevates the team rather than just excelling individually.

Options pricing is the bedrock of IMC's business, and demonstrating strong options knowledge will set you apart from other candidates. Even if your background is in pure math or CS, investing time in learning options theory before applying is well worth the effort.

Start with "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" by Hull — focus on the chapters covering option pricing, Black-Scholes, the Greeks, and hedging strategies. Make sure you deeply understand put-call parity, delta hedging, and how each Greek affects option value. Practice computing option prices by hand for simple scenarios, and develop intuition for how prices change as inputs move.

Supplement with practice problems that connect options theory to trading decisions: if you're long gamma, what does your PnL look like as the underlying moves? If implied volatility is higher than realized, what trade would you put on? Check our options Greeks glossary page for a solid conceptual foundation and worked examples.

Mental math is a gatekeeper at IMC — if you're slow or inaccurate, you won't pass the initial assessment. Building speed requires consistent daily practice over weeks or months, not last-minute cramming.

Use Zetamac for daily timed arithmetic drills. Start with the default settings and aim to reach a score of 50+ within two minutes. Once you're consistently hitting that target, increase the difficulty by adding larger numbers or practicing multiplication and division specifically. Also practice computing percentages, fractions, and quick estimations — these come up frequently in trading contexts.

Beyond apps, build mental math into your daily life: estimate tips, compute discounts, multiply license plate numbers. The goal is to make arithmetic feel effortless so that during interviews and on the trading floor, your mental bandwidth is free for higher-level reasoning rather than basic calculations.

Preparing with actual IMC interview questions is the most efficient way to calibrate your preparation. The firm's questions have a distinctive style that emphasizes options intuition, probability, and collaborative problem-solving.

Work through our IMC interview question bank which contains real questions reported by candidates. Focus on probability puzzles, options pricing scenarios, and mental math challenges. For each question, practice explaining your reasoning out loud — IMC values clear communication alongside correct answers.

Also prepare for the group trading exercise by practicing mock markets with friends or study partners. Simulate an environment where multiple people are quoting prices, information arrives gradually, and you need to update your view in real time. Focus on both individual performance and how you interact with the group — ask yourself whether you're sharing information, listening to others, and maintaining composure under competitive pressure.

For additional preparation, review IMC compensation data to understand the reward structure and book a coaching session with a Quant Blueprint mentor who can run realistic mock interviews.