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Equity Research Analyst
Posted Sep 11, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
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Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Walk me through a time an earnings report or corporate action created a mispricing between the stock and its options. How did you spot it and what did you do with that information?
What they are checking: whether the candidate has real experience translating fundamental events into actionable options trades, not just theoretical knowledge
Tell me about a time you had to build a tool or model from scratch because nothing existing did what you needed. What did it do and how did traders end up using it?
What they are checking: hands-on tool-building capability and whether their output actually got adopted by traders, not just built
Describe a situation where your read on an event turned out to be wrong. What did you miss and how did that change how you research things now?
What they are checking: intellectual honesty and whether they actually learn from bad calls rather than deflect
Tell me about a case where cross-asset signals, like credit spreads or the underlying bond, told you something different than what the equity options market was pricing.
What they are checking: whether the candidate actually thinks across asset classes rather than staying siloed in equities
What would you do
Say you're covering earnings for forty names in a single week during a busy season. How do you decide which ones deserve deep analysis versus a quick pass?
What they are checking: ability to triage and prioritize under real-time pressure with limited bandwidth
You're reading a 10-Q the morning of earnings and you spot a footnote about a covenant change that the market hasn't priced in. Walk me through what you do in the next thirty minutes.
What they are checking: speed and judgment when parsing dense filings under real time pressure
It's 6am, there's a macro headline out of Asia that could move a basket of US names at the open, and the desk needs a read before the bell. What's your process for getting them something useful in the next fifteen minutes?
What they are checking: comfort operating in a 24-hour, fast-moving market coverage environment
How do you keep traders updated on a fast-moving story throughout the day without flooding them with noise?
What they are checking: communication judgment and understanding of what traders actually need versus what's just information
About the work
A company just announced a spin-off. Tell me what happens to the implied volatility surface and the Greeks on the parent stock's options in the days around that announcement.
What they are checking: depth of understanding of how corporate actions mechanically affect options pricing
Explain how a convertible bond issuance can create an arbitrage opportunity in the equity options market.
What they are checking: whether the candidate genuinely understands capital structure arbitrage rather than just options trading basics
How would you model the expected move in a stock heading into a dividend announcement that could go either way, and how does that affect the options market maker's quoting?
What they are checking: quantitative modeling skill applied specifically to event-driven scenarios traders care about
What's the difference in how you'd underwrite a merger arbitrage spread versus a dividend capture trade, in terms of what can go wrong?
What they are checking: breadth of actual experience across different event-driven strategy types, not just familiarity with the terms
If you had to explain to a trader in under a minute why a stock's volatility surface looks skewed heading into a binary event like an FDA decision, what would you say?
What they are checking: ability to distill complex options concepts quickly and clearly for a trading audience
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Chicago Trading Company.