Interviewing for the Jane Street Quantitative Trader internship in New York? Here is how the phone rounds and the in-person final round work, the probability and trading games traders set, and when you hear back.
Key facts
- Shape: Phone interviews at the start, then in-person interviews for the final stage, all with quantitative traders.1
- Phone rounds: Two to four calls of about 30 to 45 minutes before the final round; one 2023 intern had three phone screens before the on-site.10,11,12
- Final round: Problem solving, probability and statistics, coding in any language you choose, data analysis and general interests.1
- Finance needed: No finance or economics is tested and no complicated college math is needed; the interview should feel more like a conversation than a quiz.1,2
- Games: Phone rounds have built games out of coin flips and run a full round as a game; final rounds open with live market-making games.4,5,12
- Travel: Jane Street books travel and a hotel for in-person interviews and pays for them.2
- Hearing back: You should hear back within a week after interviews, and Jane Street does not interview on weekends.2
Jane Street's trading page has a mock interview video: a three-part sample question, with the interviewee talking through her strategies, asking questions and thinking out loud. Watch it before your first call.1
What the Jane Street interview looks like
Before the interviews
A recruiter gets in touch within a few days of your application and, if you are selected, explains what to expect. Some applicants also sit a short online test, described as an intelligence or probability test, so watch your email. For phone rounds, wait for Jane Street to call you; if your connection is poor, ask for Zoom ahead of time.2,4,6,12
The phone rounds
Calls of about 30 to 45 minutes with a trader. Expect probability and expected value: one New York call started with a coin-flip game and added condition after condition; in another process the first call set probability brainteasers and the second was a game.11,4,5
How many calls
The structure may vary by discipline, and your recruiter tells you what to expect. Expect two to four calls; one intern had three phone screens before the on-site, and a 2019 New York full-time process had four online rounds before the final.2,11,12,10,8
The final round
In person with quantitative traders, in a mix of problem solving, probability and statistics, coding in any language you choose, data analysis and general interests. Final days have opened with two or three live market-making games, with coding and data rounds later.1,12
What traders look for
Approach the problem methodically, communicate clearly, correct your mistakes and ask why. The traders Jane Street hires are curious, organized and open-minded, humble, pleasant to work with and open to feedback.1
After the final round
You should hear back within a week. If you are turned down, Jane Street usually recommends that current students wait at least a year before reapplying.2
Making a market, step by step
- Fair value 30 sec
- Your best estimate of what the thing is worth, said out loud.
- Width 15 sec
- A bid below and an offer above, wider when you are less sure.
- Size 15 sec
- How much you will trade at those prices, small enough to survive being wrong.
- Update Each trade
- Ask what the trade tells you, then move your quote.
- Position Ongoing
- Track what you own and how far you can lose before you stop.
Final days open with live market-making games, and a 2012 final round handed out a sheet of trading terms before the day. The steps and times above are Intervyo's framework for playing one.12,9
Before your interviews
- Watch the mock interview video on Jane Street's trading page.
- Practice thinking out loud on probability puzzles, step by step.
- Learn to quote a bid and an offer, and how to say a trade without hesitating.
- Practice sizing bets so a single loss can never wipe you out.
- Pick one programming language you know well for the coding round.
- Have a phone with good signal, or ask your recruiter for Zoom in advance.
- Bring paper and a pen, and questions to ask "why" about.
The questions
Jane Street tests foundational skills, not finance: problem solving, probability and statistics, coding, data analysis and general interests. It wants to see what it is like to work with you on a problem, so think out loud.1,2
- Probability: Coins, dice and cards, often with conditions added one by one.
- Expected value and betting: Games where you decide whether and how much to bet.
- Market making: Quote a bid and an offer, trade, and update as you learn more.
- Coding and data: Code in the language you choose, and read a dataset for what matters.
- General interests: A conversation about what you enjoy and how you learn.
Example questions and how to answer them
Probability"I flip a fair coin until I get two heads in a row. How many flips do you expect?"4,5
- 1Define the states: no progress, and one head so far.
- 2Write an equation for the expected flips from each state.
- 3Solve the two equations together.
- 4Sense-check the answer against a simpler case.
Tip: Expect the trader to add a condition once you solve it; coin-flip games have been built up this way, condition after condition. Say each step out loud.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. Let E be the expected flips from scratch and F from one head. From scratch, I flip once: half the time I move to one head, half the time I start over, so E = 1 + F/2 + E/2. From one head, I flip once: half the time I am done, half the time I start over, so F = 1 + E/2. Substituting, E = 1 + (1 + E/2)/2 + E/2, so E = 1.5 + 3E/4, and E = 6. As a check, one head takes 2 flips on average, so 6 for two in a row is reasonable.
Market making"Make me a market on the product of two dice. I will trade, then tell you something."6,9,12
- 1Work out the fair value: for independent dice, the expected product is the product of the expectations.
- 2Quote a bid and an offer around it, wider when you are less sure.
- 3Ask what the interviewer's trade tells you.
- 4Recompute when new information comes and move your quote.
Tip: Learn how to say a trade quickly and correctly before the final round. A muddled bid or offer can be traded against you.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. Each die averages 3.5, and they are independent, so the product averages 12.25. I will make it 11 at 13.5. If you tell me one die is even, that die now averages 4, so fair value is 4 times 3.5, or 14, and I move to 13 at 15. If you keep buying at my offer, I ask myself what you know and raise my quote.
Betting"You have 100 chips. A coin lands heads 60% of the time and pays even money. How much do you bet?"9
- 1Check the edge: is the expected value positive?
- 2Size the bet so a loss never wipes you out.
- 3Use a fraction of your stack that grows it over many bets.
- 4Explain why you would not bet everything even with an edge.
Tip: In a 2012 full-time final round, each candidate started with 100 poker chips to bet on scenarios across the day, and was told never to make a bet that could wipe them out.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. The edge is 60% minus 40%, so 20 cents per chip bet. Betting everything would give a 40% chance of losing it all. The Kelly fraction for an even-money bet is the edge, 2p minus 1, so I bet 20% of my stack, 20 chips, and re-size after each flip. If I am unsure the coin really is 60%, I bet less, say 10 chips.
Conditional probability"I roll two dice and tell you at least one is a 6. What is the chance both are 6?"7,6,1
- 1List the outcomes that fit the information.
- 2Count the ones where the event happens.
- 3Divide, and check against the unconditional chance.
Example answer, written by Intervyo (not a real candidate)
Written by Intervyo as an example. Of 36 outcomes, 11 have at least one 6: six with a 6 on the first die, six with a 6 on the second, minus the double counted (6, 6). Only one of those 11 is a double 6, so the chance is 1 in 11, much higher than 1 in 36 without the information.
Data analysis"Here is a dataset. What would you look at first?"1,2
- 1Ask what decision the data is meant to inform.
- 2Check its quality: gaps, outliers and how it was collected.
- 3Plot it and look for a simple pattern before any model.
- 4Say what you would test next and why.
Tip: Data analysis is on Jane Street's list for the final round, and coding can be in any language you choose.
More Jane Street interview questions
Phone rounds
“A coin-flip game, with condition after condition added to test your probability.”4
New York, Nov 2023
“Probability brainteasers, variants of well-known puzzle book problems.”5
New York, Nov 2024
“A second round played as a game.”5
New York, Nov 2024
“Probability-based market-making questions.”6
New York, Feb 2025
Final round
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How long to hear back after the interview
A recruiter gets in touch within a few days of applying, and you should hear back within a week after interviews. Jane Street does not interview on weekends.2
Sep 2012 (full time)
Trader
Five phone interviews, then a final round of four hour-long interviews with 100 poker chips to bet on scenarios.9
Oct 2019 (full time)
Quantitative trader (1st-year analyst), New York
Five rounds: four online, then an in-person superday.8
Jan 2022 (summer 2022)
Trading intern, New York
Quick scheduling by email with a recruiter, then a trader called and asked math questions.7
Mar 2023 (summer 2023)
Quant trading intern
Three phone screens, then on-site interviews, mixing probability, expected value, market making and game theory with a few behavioral questions.10
Nov 2023 (2024 cycle)
Quantitative trader, New York
A phone round of pure math and probability, with little feedback on the call; the review also lists an intelligence test, and the process took under a month.4
Nov 2024 (summer 2025)
Quant trading intern, New York
A phone screen of probability brainteasers, then a second round built around a game.5
Interviewers may give little feedback on the call, so do not read silence as a bad sign.4
Best guessIf a week passes after a round with no word, a short note to your recruiter is reasonable, as Jane Street says you should hear back within a week.
What happens after the interview
Online application
Recruiter contact
Within a few days of applying; the recruiter explains what comes next.2
Online test (some applicants)
A short online test appears in some applicants' processes, described as an intelligence or probability test.4,6,12
Phone interviews (2 to 4)
Covered on this page. Two to four calls of about 30 to 45 minutes with traders: probability, expected value and games.1,11,4,5
Final round, in personYou are here
This page. In-person interviews with quantitative traders.1
Offer
Within a week of the final round: a summer from May to August with two mentors, classes and mock trading.2,3
Phone rounds vs final round
Both rounds are with traders and both test how you think, but the final round adds coding, data and longer games in person.
FAQ
What is the Jane Street trading interview process?
Phone interviews at the start, then in-person interviews for the final stage, all with quantitative traders. A recruiter explains the steps once you are selected.1,2
How many phone interviews does Jane Street do?
The structure may vary by discipline, and your recruiter tells you what to expect. Expect two to four calls of about 30 to 45 minutes; one 2023 intern had three phone screens, and a 2019 full-time process had four online rounds.2,11,12,10,8
What is in the Jane Street final round?
A mix of problem solving, probability and statistics, coding in any language you choose, data analysis and general interests, in person with quantitative traders. Final days have opened with live market-making games.1,12
Do you need to know finance for a Jane Street interview?
No. Jane Street does not test finance or economics, and the questions do not need complicated college math. The interview should feel more like a conversation than a quiz.1,2
Is mental math important for Jane Street?
Being comfortable with numbers and logic helps, but mental math is not the center of it: one intern found little emphasis on it and more on problem solving. The firm's own tips are about approach: work methodically, communicate clearly, correct your mistakes and ask why.10,1
Is there an online test before the Jane Street interviews?
Some applicants get one. The firm's trading page starts the process with phone interviews, but some New York trading reviews list an intelligence test, and a short timed test of probability and mental math appears in some cycles. Treat it as possible and watch your email after applying.1,4,6,12
Does Jane Street pay for travel to the final round?
Yes. Jane Street books your travel and hotel and covers the cost.2
Interview at other firms
Sources
Firm pages first, then dated candidate reports. Last checked Nov 4, 2026.
- 1Jane Street: Trading Interviews
- 2Jane Street: Interviewing
- 3Jane Street: Quantitative Trader (Summer Internship, New York)
- 4Candidate report on a public forum: Quantitative Trader interview, New York (Nov 2023)
- 5Candidate report on a public forum: Quant Trading intern interview, New York (Nov 2024)
- 6Candidate report on a public forum: Quant interview, New York (Feb 2025)
- 7Candidate report on a public forum: Trading intern interview, New York (Jan 2022)
- 8Candidate report on a public forum: Quantitative Trader interview, New York (Oct 2019)
- 9Candidate report on a public forum: Jane Street Final Round - What to Expect (Sep 2012)
- 10OpenQuant: How To Land a Quant Internship at Jane Street (Mar 2023) · prep site
- 11Extern: Jane Street Internship 2027: Programs, Salary, Deadlines & How to Apply · prep site
- 12QuantVault: Jane Street Interview Guide (2026): Rounds, Timeline, Pay & Prep · prep site
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