Derivatives Foundation interview preparation

The full derivatives syllabus from no-arbitrage pricing through the Greeks, the volatility surface, swaps, CDS and clearing, plus the Indian index-options market. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it - we do not invent attributions.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
29
Firms
19
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsMorgan Stanley4Nomura4Akuna Capital2Amundi2HSBC2PIMCO2Bank of America1Barclays1Citadel1DRW1Goldman Sachs1Jane Street1Millennium Management1Mizuho1Old Mission Capital1RBC Capital Markets1Scotiabank1UBS1Wells Fargo Securities1
Topic
All topicsForwards and futures10Options basics8Option pricing7The Greeks10Volatility7Option strategies9Swaps and rates7Credit derivatives4Market structure and clearing6Indian derivatives8Trading and markets9Brainteasers6Fit9
Level
AnyCoreIntermediateHard
Type
AnyTechnicalCaseMarket viewBrainteaserFit
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  1. 081What is crude trading at right now? And walk me through what has moved it this month.Trading and marketsIntermediatetechnicalRBC Capital MarketsSales and Trading · London · 2025

    Say this

    Give the level, name which contract you are quoting, then the two or three drivers with a direction and rough magnitude. And say the curve shape, because on a commodities or macro desk that is half the information.

    Then walk it

    1. Be specific about the instrument. Brent front month versus WTI front month are different numbers with a spread between them, and quoting one when asked about the other is the first mistake. Say 'Brent front month is around X' and give the WTI spread if you know it.
    2. Then the curve: is the front in contango or backwardation and by how much. That tells the interviewer whether inventories are tight, and it is the piece a generalist candidate never has.
    3. Then two or three drivers with direction and size. On the supply side: OPEC+ quota decisions and actual compliance, US shale production, and any outage or sanctions development. On the demand side: Chinese import data, refinery margins, and the growth outlook.
    4. Distinguish flow from fundamentals. A move driven by managed-money positioning unwinding is different from one driven by an inventory draw, and a trader should be able to say which they think it was.
    5. Then the technical level if asked, without pretending it is more than it is: 'the market has failed twice around X, and positioning is long, so a break below Y probably accelerates.' Say it as a description of where the stops are, not as a forecast.
    6. The honest framing if you genuinely do not know the level: say so, give your best estimate with a range, and say when you last checked. 'Brent was around the mid-60s when I looked yesterday' is a perfectly good answer. Inventing a precise number you cannot defend is the one thing that ends the conversation.

    Where candidates lose it

    Quoting a number without saying which contract, or being unable to name the curve shape. And never invent a level — an S&T interviewer knows the screen and will catch a fabricated number instantly. Have three or four markets you genuinely follow daily rather than a shallow view on everything.

    Expect next

    • Is the curve in contango or backwardation?
    • Where is the Brent-WTI spread and what drives it?
    • Was that last move flow or fundamentals?

    Reported by candidates at RBC Capital Markets (Sales and Trading, London, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.