Capital Market Domain Overview (For Manual Testers)
The capital market domain deals with buying and selling financial instruments such as equities, bonds, derivatives, commodities, and currencies through stock exchanges and trading platforms. Capital market applications are data-intensive, real-time, and regulation-driven, making manual testing extremely important, especially in UAT and SIT phases.
Interviewers ask manual testing capital market domain interview questions to assess:
- Understanding of trade life cycle
- Knowledge of front office, middle office, and back office
- Ability to validate financial data manually
- Experience handling real production scenarios
Unlike retail banking, capital markets involve high trade volumes, market price fluctuations, and strict settlement timelines.
Typical Capital Market E2E Flow
- Client onboarding & KYC
- Order placement (Buy/Sell)
- Trade execution
- Trade capture
- Trade confirmation
- Clearing
- Settlement (T+1 / T+2)
- Reconciliation
- Accounting & reporting
Major Modules in Capital Market Domain
| Module | Description | Manual Testing Focus |
| Client Management | Client & counterparty data | KYC & uniqueness |
| Order Management | Buy/Sell orders | Price & quantity |
| Trading | Execution engine | Market price accuracy |
| Trade Capture | Recording executed trades | Data integrity |
| Confirmation | Trade confirmation | Timeliness |
| Clearing | Trade matching | Accuracy |
| Settlement | Cash & securities | Date & amount |
| Risk Management | Market & credit risk | Exposure checks |
| Reconciliation | Internal vs exchange | Break handling |
| Accounting | Ledger posting | Financial accuracy |
| Reporting | Regulatory & MIS | Compliance |
Manual Testing Capital Market Domain Interview Questions & Answers
Basic Capital Market Interview Questions (1–20)
- What is capital market domain testing?
Testing applications that support trading, clearing, and settlement of financial instruments. - What is a capital market?
A market where securities like stocks and bonds are traded. - What is a trade?
Execution of a buy or sell order. - What is an order?
Instruction to buy or sell securities. - What is equity?
Shares representing ownership in a company. - What is a bond?
A debt instrument issued by companies or governments. - What is a derivative?
A contract whose value depends on an underlying asset. - What is trade date (T)?
The date when trade is executed. - What is settlement date (T+1/T+2)?
The date when trade is settled. - What is clearing?
Matching and validation of trades. - What is settlement?
Exchange of cash and securities. - What is front office?
Systems used for trading and order execution. - What is middle office?
Risk management and trade confirmation. - What is back office?
Settlement, accounting, and reporting. - What is market order?
Order executed at current market price. - What is limit order?
Order with specified price. - What is counterparty?
The opposite party in a trade. - What is reconciliation?
Matching records between systems. - What is audit trail?
Log of all system activities. - What is regulatory compliance?
Adhering to financial regulations.
Intermediate Capital Market Interview Questions (21–45)
- What is trade life cycle?
- What is trade confirmation?
- What is STP (Straight Through Processing)?
- What is failed trade?
- What is partial settlement?
- What is trade amendment?
- What is trade cancellation?
- What is corporate action?
- What is dividend processing?
- What is margin trading?
- What is leverage?
- What is short selling?
- What is hedging?
- What is exposure calculation?
- What is mark-to-market (MTM)?
- What is P&L calculation?
- What is settlement instruction?
- What is trade break?
- What is suspense account?
- What is cut-off time?
- What is market data feed?
- What is risk limit breach?
- What is liquidity risk?
- What is credit risk?
- What is operational risk?
Advanced Capital Market Interview Questions (46–80)
- How do you manually test trade execution accuracy?
- How do you test real-time market data integration?
- How do you test trade capture across systems?
- How do you test settlement date calculation?
- How do you test reconciliation mismatches?
- How do you test MTM calculation?
- How do you test P&L accuracy?
- How do you test corporate action impact?
- How do you test dividend posting?
- How do you test risk limit breaches?
- How do you test failed trade handling?
- How do you test partial settlements?
- How do you test trade amendments?
- How do you test trade cancellation flow?
- How do you test accounting entries?
- How do you test regulatory reports?
- How do you test high-volume trades?
- How do you test latency-sensitive systems?
- How do you test multi-currency trades?
- How do you test FX rate application?
- How do you test EOD batch jobs?
- How do you test audit logs?
- How do you test data migration?
- How do you test system failover?
- How do you test duplicate trade prevention?
- How do you test reconciliation re-runs?
- How do you test settlement holidays?
- How do you test trade breaks resolution?
- How do you test downstream system impact?
- How do you test reporting cut-off times?
- How do you test STP failure scenarios?
- How do you test manual intervention scenarios?
- How do you test exception handling?
- How do you test compliance rule changes?
- How do you test complete trade life cycle end-to-end?
Scenario-Based Capital Market Testing Questions (UAT / SIT)
Scenario 1: Trade Executed but Not Settled
Validation Steps
- Trade capture system
- Settlement instruction
- Holiday calendar
- Reconciliation report
Scenario 2: P&L Mismatch
Checks
- Market price feed
- MTM calculation
- FX conversion
Scenario 3: Duplicate Trade
Expected
- Only one valid trade
- Duplicate flagged and rejected
Scenario 4: Corporate Action Not Applied
Validation
- Adjusted quantity
- Accounting entries
- Updated settlement amount
Sample Capital Market Manual Test Case
Test Case: Equity Trade Settlement
| Field | Details |
| Precondition | Trade executed |
| Steps | Run settlement |
| Expected | Cash & shares settled |
| Validation | UI + DB |
| Status | Pass |
BRD & FRD in Capital Market Projects
BRD (Business Requirement Document)
- Trading rules
- Settlement timelines
- Risk limits
FRD (Functional Requirement Document)
- Screen flows
- System integration
- Error handling
Database + API + UI Validation (Manual Perspective)
UI Validation
- Trade status
- P&L display
API Validation
- Trade capture APIs
- Market data APIs
Database Validation
- Trade tables
- Settlement ledger
- Audit logs
Real-Time Production Defect Examples
- Trade settled twice due to retry
- Incorrect MTM calculation
- Corporate action not applied
- Reconciliation mismatch with exchange
- Failed trade not reprocessed
High-Risk Areas in Capital Market Manual Testing
- Trade execution & settlement
- Market data accuracy
- P&L and MTM calculations
- High-volume processing
- Regulatory compliance
Manual Test Design Approach for Capital Market Projects
- Requirement-based testing
- Risk-based testing
- Boundary value analysis
- Negative testing
- End-to-end trade validation
Quick Revision Cheat Sheet
✔ Trade life cycle
✔ Front/Middle/Back office
✔ Settlement & reconciliation
✔ P&L & MTM
✔ Corporate actions
✔ UI + DB validation
FAQs – Manual Testing Capital Market Domain Interview Questions
Q1. Is capital market domain difficult for manual testers?
It looks complex initially, but becomes easy once the trade life cycle is understood.
Q2. Are capital market domain questions asked in manual testing interviews?
Yes, especially for UAT and SIT roles.
Q3. Do manual testers need finance background?
Basic finance knowledge is sufficient.