Market Making Whiteboard Interview Guide
Market making whiteboard interview guide for organizing state, quotes, inventory, trades, and updates on a board or scratchpad.
Candidates in onsite or whiteboard market-making discussions.
Keep the board stateful
Use the board to track fair value, bid, ask, inventory, cash or score, and recent information.
Use a small table
A simple table with columns for round, quote, trade, inventory, and reason is enough for most toy trading games.
Concrete example
Round 1: fair 50, quote 48 at 52, customer buys, inventory -1, update fair to 51 after buy flow.
Do not over-format
The board should speed reasoning, not become a paperwork exercise. Keep only what supports the next decision.
Summarize before decisions
Before requoting, read the current state from the board: position, fair value, and risk.
Common mistakes
Candidates often write calculations but not state. Market-making whiteboards need both.
Practice the pattern
Use the LeetQuidity curriculum and calibration to turn this topic into a focused practice plan.