In December 2012, the firm agreed to acquire Knight Capital Group; this merger was completed in July 2013, forming the new company KCG Holdings.

[citation needed] Prior to the merger into KCG, GETCO traded in over 50 markets in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and was consistently among the top 5 participants by volume on many venues, including the CME, Eurex, NYSE Arca, NYSE Arca Options, BATS, Nasdaq, Nasdaq Options, Chi-X, BrokerTec, and eSpeed.

GETCO also served as one of the six Designated Market Makers (DMMs) on the NYSE between 2010 and the merger.

[4]: 44 GETCO was one of the six investors that participated in the rescue of Knight Capital, a competitor that had experienced a significant trading malfunction on August 1, 2012 which resulted in a $460 million loss.

[8] Supported by its main investor, General Atlantic, GETCO pursued Knight Capital and defeated a competing proposal from Virtu Financial by offering to pay $3.75 per share to Knight Capital’s shareholders, for a total value of $1.4 billion.