The Global Electronic Trading Company (GETCO), or Getco LLC, is an American proprietary

algorithmic trading Algorithmic trading is a method of executing orders using automated pre-programmed trading instructions accounting for variables such as time, price, and volume. This type of trading attempts to leverage the speed and computational resources of ...

and electronic

market making A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or an individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the difference, which is called the ''bid–ask spread'' or ''turn.'' Thi ...

firm based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. In December 2012, the firm agreed to acquire

Knight Capital Group The Knight Capital Group was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading. With its high-frequency trading algorithms Knight was the largest trader in U.S. equitie ...

; this merger was completed in July 2013, forming the new company

KCG Holdings KCG Holdings, Inc. was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, high-frequency trading, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading. The company was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of the me ...

Description

The firm was founded in 1999 by Stephen Schuler and Daniel Tierney, former floor traders in

, and grew quickly in the early 2000s to become one of the most active trading firms in the world. The firm's primary business is electronic

, though it also provides execution algorithms and a

dark pool In finance, a dark pool (also black pool) is a private forum ( alternative trading system or ATS) for trading securities, derivatives, and other financial instruments.North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and was consistently among the top 5 participants by volume on many venues, including the

CME CME. or cme, can refer to any of the following: Organizations * Canadian Military Engineers, the military engineer branch of the Canadian Forces * Central European Media Enterprises * Central Music Company (CME), Beijing, China * Christian Met ...

Eurex Eurex Exchange is a German derivatives exchange which primarily offers trading in European based derivatives. The products traded on this exchange vary from German and Swiss debt instruments to European stocks and various stock indexes. All tran ...

NYSE Arca NYSE Arca, previously known as ArcaEx, an abbreviation of Archipelago Exchange, is an exchange on which both stocks and options are traded. It was owned by Intercontinental Exchange. It merged with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2006 and ...

, NYSE Arca Options,

BATS Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

, Nasdaq Options, Chi-X, BrokerTec, and eSpeed. It had offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and was an investor in the electronic exchanges BATS Exchange, Chi-X, NYSE Liffe U.S., Eris, and ELX. In a 2009 profile by the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', the firm was identified as one of the largest market makers in the US

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

. GETCO also served as one of the six Designated Market Makers (DMMs) on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

between 2010 and the merger. In 2012,

Scott Patterson Scott Patterson (born September 11, 1958) is an American actor. After making his film debut in '' Intent to Kill'' (1992), Patterson had his breakout with a main role as Luke Danes on the WB comedy-drama television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (200 ...

described the firm as "the largest and most powerful high-frequency trading firm". GETCO was one of the six investors that participated in the rescue of

Knight Capital The Knight Capital Group was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading. With its high-frequency trading algorithms Knight was the largest trader in U.S. equitie ...

, a competitor that had experienced a significant trading malfunction on August 1, 2012 which resulted in a $460 million loss. Supported by its main investor,

General Atlantic General Atlantic, legal main entity General Atlantic Service Company, L.P., (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. T ...

, GETCO pursued Knight Capital and defeated a competing proposal from

Virtu Financial Virtu Financial, Inc. is an American high-frequency trading company. The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2015. Organization Based in New York City, Virtu was founded by Vincent Viola, a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange ...

by offering to pay $3.75 per share to Knight Capital’s shareholders, for a total value of $1.4 billion.

References

External links

GETCO Website
{{Hedge funds Financial services companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Chicago Financial services companies established in 1999 Privately held companies based in Illinois 1999 establishments in Illinois