JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight Securities, a subsidiary of Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE - news), announced today that it has launched a pilot program in which executions of certain Nasdaq orders automatically occur at the midpoint between the national best bid/offer (NBBO). Under the pilot program, incoming market and marketable limit orders will execute automatically against any resting opposite-sided market and marketable limit orders at the midpoint of the then existing NBBO. Knight will conduct the pilot program over the next 60 days and, concurrently, will roll out this new service to all of its clients in all Nasdaq securities throughout this period.

''Knight's investment in technology continues to yield dividends as we now have the programming ability to deliver this valuable service to the OTC marketplace,'' said Michael T. Dorsey, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Knight/Trimark Group. ''Investors will benefit from this new service as it will provide more opportunities for price improvement plus more immediacy on their Nasdaq orders.

''By providing better, faster and less costly executions in Nasdaq securities, we are affirming our recent testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Securities that we seek to empower self-directed individual investors by offering them the same quality of execution long enjoyed by large, powerful institutional investors,'' continued Mr. Dorsey. ''Our efforts to automate further the OTC market also affirm our intent to meet Congress' call for a national market system in which natural liquidity meets in more OTC stock transactions without the intervention of a dealer.''

Knight, headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, is the parent company of Knight Securities, Knight Capital Markets (formerly Trimark Securities), Knight Financial Products (formerly Arbitrade) and Knight Securities International Ltd. Knight Securities makes markets in equity securities listed on Nasdaq and on the OTC Bulletin Board of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Knight Capital Markets trades NYSE- and AMEX-listed equity securities over the counter -- the Third Market. Knight Financial Products makes markets in options on individual equities, equity indices, fixed income instruments and certain commodities in the U.S. and in Europe. Knight also maintains an asset management business for institutional investors and high net worth individuals through its Deephaven Capital Management subsidiary.

As the number one destination for online trade executions, Knight is the processing power behind the explosive growth in securities trading via the Internet. The firm is a part of Fortune magazine's ''e-50 Stock Index,'' an elite collection of companies that are shaping the new Internet-based economy. In addition, Knight, which has been in operations for fewer than five years, is included in the ''Forbes 500'' ranking of the most profitable public companies in the U.S. Currently, Knight employs more than 900 people worldwide with offices in Jersey City, NJ; Jericho, White Plains, Purchase and New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Minnetonka, MN; Santa Clara, CA; and London, England.