Graduate Trader

Your IMC journey as a Graduate Trader begins with a six-week Global Trainee Programme led by our seasoned engineers and traders alongside graduates from all three IMC regions: Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific. During this traineeship, you will deepen your knowledge about trading and financial markets, IMC’s trading strategies, and our proprietary trading systems. Your training will continue back at your local office, where you’ll receive support from your dedicated mentor, an experienced trader at IMC. Our trading teams span across discretionary, systematic, and execution-focused roles, giving you the chance to apply your skills in strategy, quantitative modelling, or market execution. Following the programme, you will be placed on a desk that best matches your strengths and interests, so you can hit the ground running. You’ll receive recognition for your ideas and successes every step of the way.

YOUR CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Trade a wide range of financial instruments
• Develop, maintain, and improve trading strategies and algorithms
• Manage the execution and risk of complex trading portfolios
• Collaborate closely with IMC’s technology developers and engineers

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

• In your ultimate year of study in mathematics, physics, econometrics, or a related quantitative field, and are seeking to join IMC full-time in February or August 2027
• Experience in a programming language is a plus (e.g. Python, Matlab or R)
• First-class analytical skills
• A genuine interest in financial markets (no prior knowledge or experience is required)

If you have already applied for this position during the current recruitment season and were not selected, you may reapply when the next recruitment season begins in September 2027. We encourage you to focus on enhancing your skillset before reapplying.

Due to U.S. consulate restrictions, candidates from certain nations (including Russia, Belarus, and Iran) are required to apply for their visa in a designated third country or to prove strong ties with a country of residency. Since the global traineeship begins shortly after employment starts, there is not enough time to establish the ties with the Netherlands which is needed for approval. As a result, we are unable to proceed with your candidacy for the graduate traineeship programme at this time. We greatly appreciate your understanding and hope to consider you for future opportunities.

If you are a dual passport holder of another nationality or a European citizen who wants to relocate back to Europe, you remain welcome to apply and should inform our campus recruitment team of your situation: CampusEU@imc.com.

For more information on our trading interview process, please review our preparation guide here. 

About Us

IMC is a research-driven trading firm where quantitative modeling, machine learning, and engineering shape how modern markets are traded. A stabilizing force in markets since 1989, we provide liquidity across trading venues, delivering the best outcome in value and risk management to investors. Using our own technology and capital, we build proprietary systems and algorithms that operate across global markets. Our researchers, traders, and engineers work as a collective, combining rapid experimentation, advanced infrastructure, and real-time feedback to turn insight into execution and execution into advantage.