Hedge Funds interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

39

Firms

16

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsMan Group10Balyasny Asset Management7Bridgewater Associates3DED.E. Shaw3Apollo Global Management2KKR2Oaktree Capital Management2Point722SCSquarepoint Capital2ACAQR Capital Management1BGBaupost Group1Coatue Management1HPS Investment Partners1Northern Trust1Viking Global Investors1Wolverine Trading1

Topic

All topicsStrategy taxonomy8Stock pitch10Short selling6Portfolio construction8Risk and drawdown8Performance and alpha7Event-driven and merger arb8Distressed and credit5Fund structure and economics7Financing, NAV and operations6Compliance and research process5Quant and systematic6India and Category III AIFs5Career and fit11

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalMarket viewBrainteaserCaseFit

1. 009Pitch me a stock.Stock pitchIntermediateevery roundMan GroupEquity Hedge · London · 2016Apollo Global ManagementInvestments · Remote · 2021

   Say this

   Trade first, then the business, then the variant view, then the catalyst, then the risk and what would make you wrong. Ninety seconds. At a hedge fund the variant view and the catalyst are the only parts that get you hired; everything else is table stakes.

   Then walk it

   1. Open with the position, not the company. 'Long X at 62, target 85, roughly 35 percent upside over twelve to eighteen months, and I would size it at 4 percent of the book.' Sizing in the opening line is what separates a fund pitch from a research note.
   2. Two sentences on the business. What it sells, to whom, and the one operating metric that drives the P&L.
   3. The variant view, quantified. 'Consensus has 9 percent revenue growth next year. I think it is 14, because the two contracts announced in April are not in the sell-side models yet and they are worth 5 points of growth.' Name the number consensus has and the number you have.
   4. The catalyst and the clock. What makes the market agree, and when. A quarterly print, a capacity ramp, a contract renewal, an index event, a capital markets day. Without a dated catalyst it is an opinion, not a position.
   5. The bear case with a price on it. 'If the contracts slip a year I lose about 15 percent.' Then the asymmetry: 35 up against 15 down justifies the position even at even odds.
   6. Close with the falsifier and the hedge. The one disclosure you would watch, and how you would express it, whether outright long or paired against a competitor to strip out the sector move.

   Where candidates lose it

   Pitching a mega-cap with a thesis from the financial press. If the reason is in the newspaper it is in the price. Also, never pitch without a number for the bear case and a sizing view. A hedge fund interviewer is testing whether you think in positions, not in recommendations.

   Expect next

   • How would you hedge it?
   • What is the bear case, and what does the stock do in it?
   • Who is on the other side of this trade and why are they wrong?

   Reported by candidates at Man Group (Equity Hedge, London, 2016); Apollo Global Management (Investments, Remote, 2021). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 011Are you sure your thesis can be backed up? What if their costs do not fall?Stock pitchHardsuperdayApollo Global ManagementInvestments · Remote · 2021

   Say this

   Answer the substance, do not defend the position. Give the evidence behind the cost assumption, quantify what the stock is worth if you are wrong, and say where you would cut. Under pressure, the willingness to concede the weak leg is worth more than conviction.

   Then walk it

   1. Evidence first, and be specific. 'Management guided to it' is weak. 'The input contract repriced in Q2, gross margin already moved 180 basis points, and two quarters of run-rate are visible in the reported numbers' is strong.
   2. Then price the downside. 'If costs stay flat, EBITDA is 12 percent below my number, the multiple compresses to peers, and the stock is worth 48 rather than 85. From 62 that is about 22 percent down.'
   3. Then the asymmetry, which is the real defence. 35 up against 22 down still works at even probability, and I would size it accordingly rather than at a full weight.
   4. Then the monitoring plan. Which disclosure tells you early, and by when. If the cost curve is visible in a monthly input price or a quarterly gross margin line, the thesis is testable in real time and that is what makes it a hedge fund position.
   5. Then concede properly where you should. 'You are right that the cost assumption is the weakest leg, so I would start at half size and add on the first print that confirms it' is a better answer than digging in.
   6. And name the structural hedge. If the cost concern is industry-wide rather than company-specific, you can pair the long against a competitor with the same input exposure and isolate the part you actually have a view on.

   Where candidates lose it

   Defending emotionally, or answering a different question than the one asked. This is a test of whether you update on evidence. Candidates who repeat the bull case with more adjectives fail; candidates who quantify the bear case and name a stop pass even if the interviewer keeps pushing.

   Expect next

   • At what price would you stop out?
   • How would you size it given that uncertainty?
   • What would you have to believe for the bear case to be right?

   Reported by candidates at Apollo Global Management (Investments, Remote, 2021). 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.