Quant interview prep guides

Reconciliation Trading Systems Interview Guide

Reconciliation trading systems interview guide for sources of truth, position breaks, trade checks, timestamps, repair workflow, and caveats.

Candidates explaining consistency checks across trading and post-trade systems.

Reconciliation finds breaks

Reconciliation compares internal records with venues, brokers, clearing data, or accounting systems to find differences in trades, positions, cash, or PnL.

Sources of truth must be named

A useful answer identifies which system is authoritative for each field and what happens when sources disagree or update at different times.

Concrete example

If internal position says long 100 shares but the broker report says long 80, reconciliation should identify missing fills, corrections, or timing differences before trading resumes normally.

Breaks need workflow

Detection is only part of the process. Systems need severity, ownership, audit trail, repair steps, and controls to prevent recurrence.

Common mistakes

Candidates often treat reconciliation as an end-of-day spreadsheet. In trading systems, timely reconciliation can be a risk control and operational safety mechanism.

Practice the pattern

Use the LeetQuidity curriculum and calibration to turn this topic into a focused practice plan.