Junior Trader Final: Investment & Market-Making Games

Junior Trader final-round verbal games: (1) how to invest $1M over a 3-day vs a 3-year horizon; (2) a dice game rolling 1-100 with a $1 reroll option — how much would you pay to play and what is your strategy; (3) make a market on a quantity such as the population of Sydney or Chicago. Graded on reasoning speed and logic, not theory. Requirements A Junior Trader (not Quant Trader) final round built from quick verbal games: Given $1,000,000, how would you invest it over a 3-day horizon? Over a 3-year horizon? A dice game: you roll a die numbered 1–100. You may pay $1 to reroll. How much would you pay to play the game, and what is your strategy? Make a market on a real-world quantity, for example the population of Sydney or Chicago. Notes Interviewers are friendly and explicitly value the thought process: they want someone who computes quickly and reasons logically, and they ask no theory questions. For the dice game, reason about expected value and the optimal reroll threshold (keep rolling while the expected gain from a reroll exceeds its $1 cost) to back out a fair price to play. For market-making, give a bid–ask interval around your estimate and be ready to tighten or move it when challenged. The investment-horizon questions probe how your risk tolerance and instrument choice change with the time horizon. This round has also been reached via Akuna's options course (e.g. "Options 201"), where a strong ranking on the course assessment can expedite a candidate straight to the trader final. Preparation Drill expected-value and optimal-stopping reasoning so the dice game's fair price comes quickly. Practice making and defending markets on Fermi-style quantities (city populations, counts) with a clear bid–ask and tightening logic. Prepare short, concrete views on short-horizon vs long-horizon investing and the risk trade-offs.