Arbitrage

[jongameson]

Why is the bid for Litecoins on Vircurex higher than teh ask on Cryptsy.  If I was smart I'd take advantage of that.  Unfortunately Vircurex hasn't been working for me the past 2 days (buttons are all dead, withdrawals don't even work).  Is this normal?

[raspcoin]

It is natural that prices vary at different exchanges if the conditions are not the same. For example, BTC-e is almost always $100 cheaper than Mt.Gox when buying BTC.

[jongameson]

It is natural that prices vary at different exchanges if the conditions are not the same. For example, BTC-e is almost always $100 cheaper than Mt.Gox when buying BTC.

i'd make a system out of that for sure.  but have bitcoins in each account, so i wouldn't have to transfer them back and forth. 

is vircurex workin on your end?

[raspcoin]

It is natural that prices vary at different exchanges if the conditions are not the same. For example, BTC-e is almost always $100 cheaper than Mt.Gox when buying BTC.

i'd make a system out of that for sure.  but have bitcoins in each account, so i wouldn't have to transfer them back and forth. 

is vircurex workin on your end?

Sorry, I have not used Vircurex yet. There are so many exchanges available, it is almost impossible to try all of them.

[odolvlobo]

Unfortunately Vircurex hasn't been working for me the past 2 days (buttons are all dead, withdrawals don't even work).  Is this normal?

Maybe this is why there is a price discrepancy.

[hope4me]

It is natural that prices vary at different exchanges if the conditions are not the same. For example, BTC-e is almost always $100 cheaper than Mt.Gox when buying BTC.

Yes because depositing money to BTC-e and withdrawing money from Mt.Gox is hard

[moocoin]

Arbitrage requires liquidity.  If you can't easily get funds in and out, you can't take advantage of the delta.

[Reece523]

An easier (e.g. more liquid) way to arbitrage is to look for price discrepancies between BTC/LTC/XPM markets on Cryptsy. You can sometimes buy a cryptocurrency with LTC and then resell it in the XPM markets for an amount which when you then convert back into LTC results in you having more LTC than you began the process with.

[joocrazy]

Anybody familiar with mtgox withdrawals?  What are the delays between different currencies/countries?

[rssage]

the reason there are price discrepancies between the market is 1) the ability to convert from crypto currency to fiat and 2) the amount of coins the exchanges are transferring. For example if you have a small amount of coins, some one could pump the coin up and cause an inflated price but if you have a large pool of coins moving much harder to manipulate.

[BitCoinMiner01]

Not only do withdraw times and trade volumes play a role in limiting arbitrage opportunities, but also differences in fees that the exchanges charge.

[AltCoin555]

I wrote a quick script to see if it would be possible to make some gain via arbitrage. It's possible but as another poster said it takes a lot of coins up-front and when you consider the exchange rates AND the time it takes to make the exchange it doesn't really work out as well. Cryptocoincharts.info actually has a page showing arbitrage points in delta so the work is already done for you, http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/v2/arbitrage.

The different markets are good at keeping up with each other and being affected by each other. The only real arbitrage you can gain is by trading within the same market, like another poster mentioned is trading between 3-4 coins to get the gain, for whatever reason they transfer faster within their own market.