Knight Capital | featured news

Trading losses at Knight Capital Group Inc were about $270 million after taxes from the August 1 software glitch that sent the firm scrambling for a financial lifeline, Chief Executive Tom Joyce told clients in a letter.

Knight Capital Group Inc's future remained in flux as it headed into the weekend trying to clinch a rescue deal, but there was skepticism on Wall Street that one of the largest U.S. equities trading firms would find a suitor before Monday.

The high-speed trading arms race being waged on Wall Street has finally claimed its first major casualty. Knight Capital Group, a brokerage that handles nearly 11% of all stock trading in U.S. companies, is in danger of collapsing after a software glitch triggered millions of unintended orders. The New Jersey firm lost $440 million in less than an hour — nearly four times the company's profit last year.

Trading firm Knight Capital is being forced to raise money after an erroneous trading position wiped out $440 million of the firm's capital, Knight said in a statement on Thursday.