Knight Capital Group (formerly called Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. and Knight Trading Group, Inc.) is a global financial services firm based in Jersey City

Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 that provides access to the capital markets across multiple asset classes to buy- and sell-side firms and corporations.

Knight is a specialized firm with highly developed market-making and trading capabilities. A heavily technologically-driven firm, it makes a market or trades in over 19,000 U.S. securities and is the largest trader of U.S. shares by volume. Knight has been expanding beyond equities into fixed income, foreign exchange, options and futures.

History

Knight Trading group has multiple offices located in the United States and in other cities around the world. Knight's Asset Management offices are headquartered in Minnetonka

Minnetonka, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, with offices in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

In 2003 the company was worth $670 million. Knight employs approximately 933 people. In 2008, Knight traded an average of 3.97 billion shares per day.

Violations and settlements

In 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported that Knight traders were being probed by regulators for taking advantage of anticipated price changes by placing their own orders before carrying out customer orders. The company was fined $1.5 million for committing trading violations, such as not respecting posted quotes.

In 2004, the company paid a $79 million settlement to customers whom they had overcharge

Overcharge

Overcharge is an economic term that refers to the difference between an observed market price and a price that would have been observed in the absence of collusion. The latter is often called a "but-for price" or a competitive "benchmark price"...

d.

Asset classes and activities

Knight Capital Group is engaged in trading activities in numerous asset classes, ranging from equities to options to fixed income. It is ranked #1 with respect to other securities firms in terms of volume traded in listed names, consisting of over 17% of market share.

The Equities segment includes all global equities market-making and trading, including electronic trading and traditional sales and trading, within Knight Capital Americas, L.P., Knight Capital Europe Limited, and Knight Capital Asia Limited. Products and services in this segment include Corporate Access, Knight Link, Knight Match and Knight Strategic Research.

Operating Subsidiaries

Knight Capital Group operates in three segments: equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities, and corporate. Current operating business subsidiaries include Knight Capital Americas, L.P., Knight Execution & Clearing Services LLC, Knight Capital Europe Limited and Hotspot FX Holdings, Inc. Knight Capital Group discontinued operations of its asset management segment in 2009 when its subsidiary, Deephaven Capital Management

Deephaven Capital Management

Deephaven Capital Management, LLC was a subsidiary of Knight Capital Group that managed various hedge funds. Deephaven was founded in 1994 with $5 million in assets and at its peak managed $4 billion in assets in six different hedge funds.-Downfall:...

, sold most of its assets to Stark & Roth, LLC.

Acquisitions

In October 2010, Knight acquired Astor Asset Management, LLC to provide further diversification to Knight’s offering.

Astor Asset Management seeks to identify fundamental economic shifts in order to provide retail and institutional investors with capital appreciation while managing risk in diverse market conditions. The firm utilizes proprietary macro-economic models to construct portfolios of ETFs which are offered through financial advisors within separately-managed accounts and the Astor Long/Short ETF Mutual Fund.