The five stages, as the firm sets them out
For the Graduate Trader programme, Flow Traders lists:
- Application - "Submit your CV and a cover letter highlighting your skills, experience and qualifications relevant to the position."
- Numerical test - "Complete a numerical test to evaluate your mental math and sequences skills."
- Recruiter interview - assessing "business knowledge, motivation and cultural fit."
- Trader interview - evaluating "business knowledge, problem-solving skills and ability to handle brainteasers."
- Case study - "Successful candidates will then be invited to participate in a case study exercise, led by two senior Traders to evaluate your trading intuition, decision-making ability and adaptability."
The firm also states that only penultimate and final-year students are eligible for the Graduate Trader programme, which is worth checking before investing preparation time.
The graduate software development route is separate and differently shaped: CV, a HackerRank test in C++ or Java, a recruiter interview, a paired-coding session, and a final interview with a team lead.
The numerical test is the real filter
Stage two is where most applications end, and it is the stage most responsive to preparation. The firm names exactly what it covers - mental math and sequences - which is unusually specific and should be taken literally.
Candidate reports, hedged as such, consistently describe extreme time pressure rather than mathematical difficulty: two- and three-digit multiplication, percentages and fractions, at a pace measured in seconds per question, with pen and paper allowed but no calculator. The arithmetic is not hard. The clock is the test.
What the firm suggests
Flow Traders' own preparation advice is to practise mental maths, follow financial news, set up trading portfolios, and play strategy games. It also recommends reading Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Market Wizards and Liar's Poker.
The reading list is a real signal about the trader interview at stage four, which the firm says covers business knowledge as well as problem solving - so unlike some processes in this sector, having something intelligent to say about markets is worth preparing here.
What to prepare
Sequences as a distinct skill. They are named separately from mental maths for a reason, and they are trainable by volume.
A sustainable arithmetic pace. Accuracy first, then speed. A wrong answer at speed is worse than a right answer slightly slower on a scored screen.
An opinion about markets. For stages three and four, unlike the numerical test.
Practise the same formats
The question sets below are ours, written in the formats this process is reported to use. They are not Flow Traders' questions, and nothing here reproduces any part of its assessment.