Bitcoin Forum

Bitstamp BTC is almost always $20 higher then BTC-e, seems like good arb, am I missing something? other then bitstamps annoying verification process

Did you learn nothing from those who tried to play the system and therefore had to keep their coins on an exchange?

How quickly the lessons learned are forgotten.

-B-

Buy BTC in USD, takes 2 seconds, withdraw and to deposit to new exchange takes ~15 minutes (if u don't use wallet in between) sell on exchange #2 takes 3 seconds, and withdraw USD so u can deposit them back into exchange #1 takes a few days,

as you can see all the time is spent in USD the BTC portion is a matter of minutes

Not feasible. Also add the fees in both exchange. Ang bitcoin price can up or down up to 200 usd in one hour.

I believe the fees in total amount to <%1, you mixed them up, deposit into BTC-e (with egopay presumably) and withdraw from bitstamp (with ripple)

In regards to the fluctuations I guess it isn't TRUE arbitrage, but it seems like a good bet, those $200 fluctuations are rare and when they don't happen you hit a solid ~%2 after fees

EDIT:

And like I said the BTC transactions should take <30 minutes, USD deposit and withdrawal could take days

Yes, you could do this, and it may work, but the "opportunity" doesn't exist because no one else has thought of it - rather there's a hidden risk you're not seeing, which would be failing to get your USD withdrawal out. As we've seen time and time again, exchanges of any size can disappear overnight. Think of it like buying a high yield bond on Bitstamp/BTCE. If you think they'll be around for a while and won't disappear, you'll do well.

Right on, you hit the nail right on the head. Beautiful.



In terms of a creative solution, what about in addition to this arb, short BTC. If the exchanges fail BTC drops and you are secure.

Just a thought

EDIT:

Just realized that this idea wont work ^ (short btc)

REedit:

Wouldn't work bc when BTC rises you are in trouble.

BUT I realized the perfect way to do this, BTC put options! Use your arb money to buy puts on BTC and you're golden

too bad they don't exist, or do they?

this thread is pretty funny if nothing else

Why is it funny? I don't get it

lately bitstamp is just 2-4% above BTC-e.  So if you think you can get funds in and out of both of them and cycle that quickly enough to make a profit , then go for it.

But it probably isn't doable or other would be doing it and the price difference would already be gone.

I considered this a while back with gox and btc-e. The reason I didn't do it isn't fear of the exchange going down but rather:

1. It means you keep your money in USD most of the time, you may make more profit just keeping hold of BTC and doing nothing. You lose out of price increases.
2. The arb opportunity can disappear during the confirmation time.
3. You may make 1 or 2 % each round. So to make $10k you need to move $1M about. The payment processors may start blocking you or think you are doing something suspicious.
4. I didn't like the bank withdrawal methods on gox. Thought my money might just 'disappear' in the banking ether come from Japan to the UK.
5. Moving money large money around like this repeatedly scares the shit out of me. One wrong move or mistake and you can lose it all.

I did do one successful arb a long time ago from btc-e to okpay (when they let you load up direct from bitcoin and used the gox price as a reference). This is no longer possible.

I agree with anyone here including OP.

Somebody takes risk and get reward. It is necessary for market.

right but keep in mind that %2 you hit every few days, so it adds up

exactly

I agree but my point is about the payment processors. If you move $1,000,000 through OKPAY for example, and they really have no idea who you are expect a passport scan, then they may say "hey mister, watcha doing, you a drug dealer?"

If you have $1M available, then there are better ways to make the 1~2% ;)