Design a Stock Exchange System Design Interview

Design an exchange that accepts orders, matches buyers and sellers, publishes market data, and preserves an auditable sequence of trades.

Mock Interview with AI

1. Problem Statement

Design a stock exchange that accepts buy and sell orders, matches them fairly, and distributes market data in real time.

2. Architecture Discussion Map

Use this as one discussion aid, not a single correct answer. Your design should follow from the requirements, scale, and trade-offs you establish.

Rendering architecture diagram...

Mermaid Source (For AI Bots)

graph LR
    A["Design a Stock Exchange"]
    A --> F1["Order types and matching rules"]
    A --> F2["Sequencing and deterministic processing"]
    A --> F3["Market data fan-out"]
    A --> F4["Durability, replay, and audit"]
    A --> F5["Risk controls and failure recovery"]

3. Key Focus Areas

1
Order types and matching rules
2
Sequencing and deterministic processing
3
Market data fan-out
4
Durability, replay, and audit
5
Risk controls and failure recovery

4. What Strong Candidates Should Demonstrate

✓Separate order entry, deterministic matching, market data, and post-trade processing.
✓Preserve strict ordering and auditability on the matching path.
✓Reason about partitions, recovery, and fairness under low-latency constraints.

Want interactive feedback?

Practice drawing this system component-by-component on a live whiteboard while the interviewer probes at your target level.

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Core Concepts

Order MatchingLow LatencyEvent OrderingAuditability