Many people think Akuna Capital hiring is "once you pass the OA you are basically in"—that is the biggest misconception. Akuna is a Chicago-born prop trading firm focused on options market making; the OA is only an entry filter of coding plus probability, and the real elimination happens at the Super Day Trading Game and probability brainteasers.
If you only ground out LeetCode and never touched market-making intuition or mental math, you may breeze through the OA but get exposed on Super Day. This article lays out Akuna's full interview loop: what each stage tests, the elimination rate, how the Trading Game works, and how to drill brainteasers. (For full solutions to the three OA coding problems, see the separate Akuna Intern OA article on this site.)
1. Akuna Full-Loop Timeline
| Stage | Format | Duration | Elimination focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. OA | HackerRank coding + probability MCQ | 70 min | 90%+ AC on coding, all MCQs correct |
| 2. Recruiter Call | Phone HR | 20-30 min | Motivation, track fit, visa |
| 3. Super Day | 3-4 back-to-back rounds in one day | Half a day | Core elimination: technical + brainteasers + Trading Game |
| 4. Offer / Team Match | Committee decision | 1-2 weeks | Holistic committee scoring |
Key insight: OA pass rate is ~35%, but Super Day pass rate is only ~25%—compounded, that is under 10% from application to offer. The Trading Game on Super Day is the most underestimated and most easily blown round.
2. Super Day Round 1: Technical (Split by Track)
SDE Track
Leans toward data structures plus systems: implement a simplified order book (see the OA article), design a low-latency message queue, or reason about cache consistency under concurrency. The interviewer follows up with "would your implementation become a bottleneck under high-frequency updates?"
Trader / Quant Track
Rarely full code—mostly whiteboard derivation plus mental math. For example:
Given a fair six-sided die, you may reroll once (after seeing the first result, you decide). Find the expected value under the optimal strategy.
Approach: keep the first roll if it is ≥ 4 (mean 5), otherwise reroll (mean 3.5). So the threshold is 4.
$$E = P(\text{first}\ge 4)\cdot\frac{4+5+6}{3} + P(\text{first}<4)\cdot 3.5 = \frac12\cdot 5 + \frac12\cdot 3.5 = 4.25$$
def expected_with_one_reroll():
faces = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
avg = sum(faces) / 6 # reroll expectation = 3.5
# first roll v: max(v, reroll expectation)
return sum(max(v, avg) for v in faces) / 6
print(expected_with_one_reroll()) # 4.25
Why this keeps appearing: it tests optimal-stopping intuition—when making markets you constantly judge "trade now or wait for a better price," and this die question is the minimal version.
3. Super Day Round 2: Probability Brainteasers (The Harshest Cut)
Akuna's brainteasers are not "aha" riddles but mental-math probability/expectation problems where you must explain your reasoning in 1-2 minutes. Common families:
Type A: Conditional Probability
A family has two children. Given that at least one is a boy born on a Tuesday, find the probability that both are boys.
The trap is that the "Tuesday" detail changes the sample space; the answer is 13/27, not the intuitive 1/3. It tests whether you rigorously enumerate the sample space.
Type B: Waiting Time / Expectation
Keep flipping a fair coin until the pattern "heads then tails" (HT) appears. Find the expected number of flips.
def expected_until_pattern():
# E0: not started; E1: previous flip was H
# E1 = 1 + 0.5*0 + 0.5*E1 -> E1 = 2
# E0 = 1 + 0.5*E1 + 0.5*E0 -> E0 = 4
return 4
print(expected_until_pattern()) # HT pattern expectation is 4 flips
Trap: many treat HT and HH as identical—but HH has expectation 6 and HT has 4, the difference coming from "whether a failure can reuse the prefix." That is exactly the detail Akuna wants to separate candidates on.
Type C: Geometric Probability
Pick two points uniformly on [0,1]. Find the probability their distance exceeds 0.5. The answer is 1/4 (draw the unit square; the target region is two triangles).
Mindset: for every brainteaser, ask three things first—what is the sample space, how do I count the target event, and is there symmetry I can exploit?
4. Super Day Round 3: Trading Game (Signature Round)
This is Akuna's most distinctive and most decisive round. Usually 5-6 people per group, 30 minutes of market making:
How It Works
- The host fixes an "asset" (a hidden quantity like the sum of dice or the value of playing cards).
- You continuously quote a two-sided bid-ask (the price you will buy at / the price you will sell at).
- Other players hit (sell to you) or lift (buy from you), and your inventory shifts accordingly.
- The true value is revealed at the end, and you are ranked by your trading PnL.
Three Core Principles
- Always quote a narrow spread around your computed EV: too wide and nobody trades with you; too narrow and you get arbitraged.
- Control single-trade and total inventory: when hit repeatedly, proactively adjust (push your bid down) rather than stubbornly holding inventory.
- Update your estimate from others' trades: if someone buys aggressively from you, they may know the true value is higher—that is information, so update your quotes in a Bayesian way.
def fair_value_dice_sum(n_dice=2):
# hidden quantity = sum of n dice, fair value = expectation
return n_dice * 3.5
def quote(fair, inventory, base_spread=1.0, skew=0.2):
# more inventory means more eager to sell -> shift down overall
mid = fair - skew * inventory
return round(mid - base_spread / 2, 2), round(mid + base_spread / 2, 2)
print(quote(fair_value_dice_sum(2), inventory=3)) # high inventory, quotes shifted down
What the interviewer watches: not how much you made, but whether your quoting logic is consistent, whether you update on information, and whether you control risk. Even a small loss can pass if your logic is clear and risk-managed; conversely, going all-in and winning by luck can still get you rejected.
5. Super Day Round 4: Behavioral / Culture Fit
Akuna's culture skews "direct, quantitative, loves games." Common questions:
- Describe a time you made a decision under pressure (mirrors the live decisions in the Trading Game).
- How do you debrief from a failure or loss (tests your PnL mindset).
- Why Akuna over Citadel / Optiver (tests whether you did your homework).
Template: use STAR, but always land on "quantified result plus the transferable principle I learned," which matches Akuna's data culture.
6. Prep Checklist (for Super Day)
| Round | Focus | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| Technical | order book / concurrency / optimal stopping | LeetCode + the Akuna OA article on this site |
| Brainteaser | conditional probability / waiting time / geometric probability | Heard on the Street + Green's guide |
| Trading Game | EV, bid-ask, inventory control | YouTube "Akuna Trading Game" recaps |
| Behavioral | STAR + quantified results | prepare 5 stories with numbers |
FAQ
Q1: Once I pass the Akuna OA, am I basically in?
No. OA pass rate is roughly 35%, but Super Day is only about 25%, and the real cut is the Super Day Trading Game and probability brainteasers. Candidates who only grind LeetCode often pass the OA and fail Super Day.
Q2: Do I need a finance background for the Trading Game?
No. It tests EV computation, bid-ask quoting logic, and risk control, all of which can be drilled. A strong background but messy quotes and no inventory control still gets rejected; zero background with clear logic and Bayesian quote updates can pass.
Q3: What level are the brainteasers?
They map to the probability/expectation problems in Heard on the Street and A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews. No advanced math is needed, but you must explain your reasoning aloud in 1-2 minutes. The three key families are conditional probability, waiting time, and geometric probability.
Q4: Is the Super Day the same for SDE and Trader tracks?
The first technical round is split by track (SDE leans algorithms/systems, Trader leans mental-math derivation), but both the Trading Game and the brainteaser rounds are taken by all tracks. That is why even SDE candidates must drill market-making intuition.
Q5: How long until results after Super Day?
Usually 1-2 weeks. Akuna uses holistic committee scoring, so strong single-round performance with poor Trading Game risk control can still be a veto. After an offer you move to team / desk match.
Contact
If you are preparing for Akuna Capital, Optiver, IMC, Belvedere, or Jane Street—options market making and prop trading firms—the OA is only the ticket in; the Super Day Trading Game plus brainteasers is the real elimination. We have compiled Trading Game recaps, a brainteaser bank, and timed mocks; reach out to discuss.
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