Competitions from an HFT fund: we share the atmosphere of the industry. In HFT the market tests every idea every day; in a competition the leaderboard does the same job. Three tracks: for school students, university students and practising engineers; some of the problems come from our own practice.
Three tracks, three levels of problems: Junior, Student, Open
Each track has its own competitions and its own conditions. Spectral::Cup rounds on Codeforces are open to all tracks and count towards the rating. A track's active or upcoming competition is marked on its card.
Junior, grades 9-11
The school track. The problems are simpler, the subject is the same: speed, data, real constraints. That is how the problems we solve ourselves every day are built, only at school scale.
Upcoming events:
Day X - 02/10/2026 (more)Student, years 1-4
Engineering competitions on HFT problems with lectures and mentors from the team. That is how the 2025 framework ran: C++, 6–8 weeks, selection through a contest, a CV and a letter
Open, practising engineers
Open engineering competitions with no HFT experience required: you need C++, systems programming, networking and optimisation. Any tools, individual participation.
Why take part: prizes, hiring, proof of your level
Cash prizes and merch
Low-latency Data Transfer Challenge prize fund 12,000 USD; Spectral::Cup 2026 top-3 prizes: MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, WHOOP. We make the merch for each recipient.
Shortened hiring track
After the competitions we offer the best participants a shortened interview track. Every year several participants join our team
Real HFT problems
Some of the problems come from our own practice: delivering a data stream with minimal latency, a framework for receiving exchange data. The metric is the same as in production: latency.
Challenge
We love this ourselves. Ambitious problems, a time limit, strong opponents, a leaderboard. Earn rating and learn from mentors from the team
Active and past competitions
- New competitions in development
Day X
October 2, 2026
Low-latency Data Transfer Challenge
Prize fund $12,000 A problem from our C++ engineers' practice: deliver a data stream from one source to several receivers with minimal latency.
Finished, 03.07-30.08.2026
Spectral::Cup 2026
Three rated rounds on Codeforces from April to July 2026, open to everyone. The final score is the best two results; the first 100 participants of a round get points.
More in Telegram →Finished, April-June 2026
Framework for exchange trading
The core of a C++ trading platform with the lowest latency: a framework for receiving exchange data or a trading simulator. Lectures and mentors from the team, 6-8 weeks, prizes of 250, 150 and 100 thousand roubles.
More in Telegram →Spring 2025, finished
ICPC
We have supported ICPC since December 2023: the Northern Eurasia final, quarterfinals, teams and coaches
since December 2023