Traders at Carolina

UNC's quantitative finance club.

A home for quantitative thinkers at UNC.

Most students hear about quantitative trading long after they could have started preparing for it. Traders at Carolina exists to close that gap. We're a student-run community of mathematicians, computer scientists, economists and the merely curious, and we meet every week to work through the probability, market intuition and problem solving that trading and research roles demand.

You don't need a finance background to join. Our members come from every major, and most of them learned what a bid and an ask were here. What they share is an appetite for hard problems and a willingness to think out loud with others.

Semesters running: 7
Members · Tight-knit community: 30+

Students with laptops and notebooks following along in a lecture hall

Weekly Sessions

Members work through a structured curriculum that starts from first principles: probability and expected value, then betting and market making, then options intuition and the mental math interviewers expect. Each session pairs a short lesson with problems you solve in small groups, so you leave with practice, not just notes. Members also take on quantitative research projects in areas like derivatives, prediction markets and commodities, and publish their work at the end of each semester.

Members holding prizes next to a table of poker chips

Games & Firm Events

Some of the best practice happens away from the whiteboard. We play poker and trading games with partner firms, host networking nights where members meet traders and recruiters directly, and bring firms like Jane Street to campus for information sessions. Members also get exclusive access to our recruitment materials to prepare for applications and interviews.

Recruiting timeline

Recruiting closed, we will open spring recruitment in January 2027.

Coffee chats & info session
Meet current members one on one, then come to our info session to hear what a semester with the club looks like and ask anything.
Written application
A short application with a few questions about why you are interested and a handful of probability and logic problems. No finance knowledge expected.
Interview
A conversation with two board members: some questions about you, and a problem or two worked through together out loud.
Final results
Everyone who applies hears back by email. New members are welcomed at our first session of the semester.