Buying on one exchange then selling on the other

[BTCetera]

I'm curious as to what is keeping the majority of the people from buying on one exchange, where the going USD/BTC rare is cheaper, and selling it on another, where the rate can be USD$50 to USD$100 higher.

There are probably people doing that already. But since opening up accounts in multiple exchanges is no feat, why isn't a much larger portion of active traders doing this?

[theonewhowaskazu]

I'm curious as to what is keeping the majority of the people from buying on one exchange, where the going USD/BTC rare is cheaper, and selling it on another, where the rate can be USD$50 to USD$100 higher.

There are probably people doing that already. But since opening up accounts in multiple exchanges is no feat, why isn't a much larger portion of active traders doing this?

Its because moving USD from exchange to exchange is expensive.

[Xer0]

It's called Arbitrage

and there is a rule of thumb:
if there is a steady difference between exchanges, then something is messing up the opportunity

eg:
Mt.Gox - cant withdraw fiat
BTCe - high deposit fees
China - hard to wire money back to you

[anu]

I'm curious as to what is keeping the majority of the people from buying on one exchange, where the going USD/BTC rare is cheaper, and selling it on another, where the rate can be USD$50 to USD$100 higher.

There are probably people doing that already. But since opening up accounts in multiple exchanges is no feat, why isn't a much larger portion of active traders doing this?

Moving fiat is not easy. MtGox is AFAIK locked down and BTCChina is difficult. People do this but the price difference reflects the cost of ARB. No free lunch.

[btcbug]

I found this out the hard way. Did a couple trades buying on Cavirtex and selling on Mt.Gox and made a nice $300 - $500 on each one instantly. Now been waiting two months for my money to be wired from Mt.Gox to my bank account

It's called Arbitrage

and there is a rule of thumb:
if there is a steady difference between exchanges, then something is messing up the opportunity

eg:
Mt.Gox - cant withdraw fiat
BTCe - high deposit fees
China - hard to wire money back to you