JERSEY CITY, N.J., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight Financial Products LLC, a subsidiary of Knight Trading Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE), today announced that it has acquired Gateway Partners LLC's specialist rights in 36 option classes at the American Stock Exchange and 61 at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

Knight's acquisition of Gateway's books adds 97 options to the Company's books, or 169 option class additions in 2001 and a total of 318 specialist acquisitions since Knight acquired Arbitrade Holdings LLC, now Knight Financial Products, in January 2000. Knight now provides options market making in approximately 550 options classes, which cover more than half of all equity option order flow on all five U.S. options exchanges.

"The absorption of Gateway's books is another step in Knight's strategy to expand options market making coverage and market share by acquiring specialist rights. We believe that, in many cases, acquiring these rights is a lower-cost and smart alternative to acquiring whole specialist firms," said Peter S. Hajas, President and Chief Operating Officer of Knight Trading Group. "Knight continues to quote more options products across more companies. And, increasingly, the companies in which Knight makes markets have quality options products on important exchanges. Ultimately, Knight is working to become an eligible destination for all order flow in the derivatives market."

Kenneth D. Pasternak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Knight Trading Group, said: "Knight entered the options market-making business because we recognized similar growth catalysts -- created by technology and market structure changes -- that drove the revolution in equities investing in the late 1990's. Going forward, we will continue to focus on increasing Knight's presence in the options marketplace and recognizing opportunities to expand our options franchise. Overall, Knight's growing derivatives market-making operations are an excellent complement to our leading equities business, and they support Knight's objective to become a single point of entry for order flow across the broad range of equities and derivatives."

Knight's acquisition is limited to certain specialist rights of Gateway Partners, an independent equity option market-making and specialist firm based in Philadelphia. Gateway retains its off-floor trading operations. The American and Philadelphia exchanges have approved the transaction.

Knight is the liquidity center that offers superior execution services to its broker-dealer and institutional clients in over-the-counter (OTC) and listed equity securities, and in equity options. In so doing, Knight helps its clients meet their fiduciary obligation of obtaining best execution for the securities orders that they route on behalf of their customers. Knight also maintains an asset management business for institutional investors and high net worth individuals through Deephaven Capital Management LLC.

Knight has the power to commit capital for market orders and also maintains one of the largest limit order books in the OTC market. The Company has approximately 1,400 employees worldwide and is one of the largest destinations for stock orders placed via the Internet. Knight traded 112 billion shares in the year 2000, a volume behind only those posted by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Ultimately, Knight plans to enable its clients to trade all types of equity securities and options at any time, from anywhere in the world. More information about Knight can be obtained at http://www.knighttradinggroup.com.

The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results, performance or other expectations and from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods. These factors include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to implement its growth strategies, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk, intellectual property rights, and other factors detailed in the Company's registration statement and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SOURCE Knight Trading Group, Inc.

CONTACT: Margaret Wyrwas, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, +1-201-557-6954, mwyrwas@knight-sec.com, Kara Fitzsimmons, Manager, Corporate Communications, +1-201-356-1523, kara_fitzsimmons@knight-sec.com, or Judy Pirro, Manager, Investor and Shareholder Relations, +1-201-356-1548, judy_pirro@knight-sec.com, all of Knight Trading Group, Inc./