Pros
For what it's worth, my experiences are probably out of date. Also, I worked on the GETCO side. * Very intelligent traders and technologists. * Great upside potential in the form of bonuses and responsibilities. * Amazing technology, very scalable infrastructure. * Peer-driven reviews (I acknowledge that there are downsides to this as well). * Great perks, health care.
Cons
* Management is not wililng to make a risky decision regarding the proprietary trading business, and possibly rightly so, as the GETCO business has been declining. But it is unfortunate for the traders on the GETCO side. * Even before the merger, the influx of executives from UBS soon led to more red tape and bureacracy, which many traders did not like. * The decline of GETCO's business led to KCG business receiving more resources. As a result, prop-side traders and technologists got less support and many intelligent people left. * There were potential synergies between GETCO's trading groups and KCG's order flow. The superior execution from GETCO trading could have monetized KCG's flow more profitability. However, politics prevented this synergy from fully playing out. * The upside for traders seem much more limited now, as KCG now focuses more on client execution than proprietary trading. * There was a lot more ambiguity as to the future career potential for prop traders.