## Round 1 - System Design ## Problem Design a multi-asset exchange platform where users can trade stocks, ETFs, and crypto. The system must route incoming orders to the correct order book per asset, match orders, manage user balances, and produce trade confirmations. ## Core Components - **Order Router**: parses incoming orders (`{user_id, asset, side, price, qty, type}`), routes to the correct order book instance. - **Order Book**: per-asset, price-time priority matching (same as a single matching engine). - **Balance Ledger**: tracks per-user per-asset holdings; validates sufficient balance before accepting an order. - **Trade Confirmation Service**: emits trade events to users via WebSocket. - **Risk Engine**: pre-trade checks (margin, position limits, wash-trade detection). ## Follow-ups 1. How do you prevent double-spend races when a user submits two orders simultaneously? 2. How do you design the balance ledger for consistency — is optimistic locking or two-phase commit better? 3. What is your failover strategy if one order book node crashes mid-match? 4. How do you replay all trades from a checkpoint to rebuild balances after a crash?

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Exchange System: Design a Multi-Asset Exchange with Order Routing

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Round 1 - System Design Problem Design a multi-asset exchange platform where users can trade stocks, ETFs, and crypto. The system must route incoming orders to the correct order book per asset, match orders, manage user balances, and produce trade confirmations. Core Components Order Router: parses incoming orders ({user_id, asset, side, price, qty, type}), routes to the correct order book instance. Order Book: per-asset, price-time priority matching (same as a single matching engine). Balance L…

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This is a candidate experience report from a jane street interview during the phone round.

It covers the following topics: System Design, Coding, Phone, Onsite .

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Exchange System: Design a Multi-Asset Exchange with Order Routing

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