Market making games are becoming a standard feature in trading interviews, and for good reason. These games test a candidate’s ability to make decisions under pressure, manage risk, and adapt to dynamic market conditions—skills that are essential for trading roles. If you’re preparing for a trading interview, understanding why these games matter is just as crucial as knowing how to approach them. This is a completely different skill set than just being smart. There are plenty of examples of STEM PhD students who don’t make it in trading.
In this blog, we’ll explore why trading firms incorporate market-making games into their hiring process and explore a variety of games you can practice to sharpen your skills and excel in your upcoming trading interviews.
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What is a market making game?
You can play a market-making game with virtually anyone, anywhere, anytime. Market makers follow market information to determine the price of a given asset. In a very rough sense, you can describe this as “guessing the real price of the asset.” This is exactly what you’ll do during a market-making interview.
The interviewer might ask you to “make a market”—for example, on the number of bikes in Amsterdam. This means you need to quote a bid and an ask based on how many bikes you think are in the city. If you estimate there are at least 500 000 bikes but no more than 2 million, you would make a market from 500 000 to 2 million. If the interviewer believes there are more than 2 million, they will buy from you. You are now one lot short at 2 million, and the interviewer is one lot long.
There are various ways the game can be played, and several paths it can take after the first trade. If you want insights into the most common formats used in trading interviews, stop searching for terms like “market making game Reddit,” “Jane Street market making games,” “Citadel market making games,” or “Optiver market making games” without finding useful preparation tools. Instead, check out our market making course and start playing our market-making game online.
Playing the market making games
Our market making games help you accelerate your interview prep. Normally, you need a counterparty to assist you with your preparation, but this person may not always be available when you are. Explaining the rules to someone new takes time. Our games are ready whenever you are.
There are two ways to play the market-making game:
- From a market maker’s perspective
- From a market taker’s perspective
Market Maker’s Perspective
The classic “Make Me a Market!” game is played from the market maker’s side. You’re asked to quote a bid and an ask for something specific, for example: “Make me a market on the length of the Great Wall of China in meters!” You can use our “Make Me a Market!” simulator to practise. It mirrors real interview dynamics, complete with sudden “news flashes” that force you to adjust your quotes.
Market Taker’s Perspective
In the classic version, the candidate acts as maker and the interviewer as taker. Some firms flip the roles: the interviewer quotes prices, and you respond as the taker. These variants are often probability-based. We provide different games so you can practise from the market taker’s side as well.
Market of Cards – Be a Market Maker and Market Taker
Market of Cards is a strategic card game that blends market-making and market-taking into a single experience. Designed for multiple players (you plus AI agents), it tests your ability to predict, strategise, and trade wisely with limited information.
In Market of Cards, you switch between the role of a market maker and market taker while working with a standard deck of cards. It features a unique scoring system that assigns different values to red and black cards, and a trading mechanism where players bid and ask based on their cards’ expected values. The game offers endless strategic possibilities.
Whether you need maker drills, taker drills, or a hybrid challenge, our suite of games keeps you sharp and interview-ready.
Market Making Games to Practice
Here is an overview of the market making games that you can practice on our platform.
Market of Cards – Group Game
In “Market of Cards”, players act as both market makers and market takers, dealing with a deck of normal playing cards. Designed for multiple players (the user and multiple AI agents), this game challenges players’ ability to predict, strategize, and make wise trading decisions based on limited information.
The scoring system assigns different values to red and black cards. The game offers endless strategic possibilities, where players bid and ask based on their cards’ values.
Make Me a Market! – Facts & Guesstimates
‘Make me a market!‘ – a well known type of market making game, often integrated in various rounds of trading interviews. Our market making game simulator helps you prepare for this specific type of market making games, where the simulator takes the role of the interviewer.
This game offers an extensive library of over 75 market making scenarios, all to keep your training fresh and diverse. Of these 75 scenarios, 50 are about facts and 25 about guesstimates. Ready to make markets on our Fermi questions?
Cards Market Making Game
Participate in a card-based expected value game often encountered in trading interviews. Practice with the typical questions and scenarios you might face in your upcoming trading interview. In this game, you’ll be the market taker. The computer, “the interviewer”, will be the market maker.
Fruit Market Making Game
In our Fruit Market Making Game, you are playing as a market taker. Is the market quotes too high or too low? And watch out: there are events in this game that affect the market values! You need to be quick with your mental math skills for this game. The quicker you are, the more often you can profit while the mis-pricing lasts.
Probability Betting Game
Do you know how odds betting works? Try out our Probability Betting Game! Spot mispriced odds in dice, cards, and coin bets to grow your bankroll! Practice probability calculations and Kelly Criterion sizing.
Basketball Market Making Game
Try out our Basketball Market Making Game, Trade on live basketball markets as the Lions and Tigers play. Buy low, sell high, and manage your positions to maximize profit! Combine sports dynamics with real-time trading decisions, risk management, and reading information flow.
Why Trading Firms Use Market Making Games in Their Interview Process
In the high-stakes world of trading, success depends on more than just technical knowledge or a polished resume. Trading is about decision-making under pressure, understanding market dynamics, and reacting to incomplete information. These are qualities that are hard to gauge through traditional interviews or standardized tests. This is why trading firms are using market making games in their interview process: integrating these games into their interview process can offer an edge in identifying top talent. Here’s why.
Market making games thrust candidates into scenarios where they must make split-second decisions while balancing risk and reward. In these simulations, there are no perfect answers, only trade-offs. By observing how candidates adjust their bids, manage spreads, or respond to adverse price movements, firms get a window into how they might perform under the relentless pace of actual trading.
Traditional interviews might explore decision-making theoretically, but they rarely reveal how a person handles the cognitive load of simultaneous problem-solving, market analysis, and risk assessment. Games, by contrast, capture those dynamics in action.
Testing Emotional Resilience
Trading is an emotional rollercoaster. The best traders know how to stay calm in the face of unexpected losses or erratic market behavior. Market making games, often presented by real trader during in-person interviews, simulate these stressors by creating fast-moving, unpredictable conditions that mirror real markets. Candidates must maintain composure, avoid overreaction, and demonstrate mental toughness, all while keeping their strategy intact.
This kind of resilience can’t be assessed by asking, “How do you handle stress?” Watching someone in the hot seat provides far more insight into their temperament.
Assessing Market Intuition
Market intuition—an instinctive understanding of supply-demand dynamics, pricing anomalies, and market sentiment—is often what separates good traders from great ones. Market-making games can reveal whether a candidate has the knack for interpreting signals and adapting to shifting market conditions.
For example, if a candidate tightens their spreads aggressively during low volatility or pulls back quickly in high-risk situations, it may indicate a strong feel for the market’s rhythm. This kind of intuition is notoriously hard to measure on paper or in theoretical interviews.
Encouraging Creativity and Strategic Thinking
Market-making isn’t just about following formulas; it’s a dance between strategy and adaptability. During a market-making game, candidates must develop and adjust their strategies on the fly. Firms can evaluate how innovative their approaches are, whether they anticipate competitors’ moves, and how they manage the trade-off between volume and profitability.
These insights go beyond technical proficiency, uncovering whether a candidate has the strategic mindset to thrive in competitive trading environments.
