Current State of Arbitrage

[kivsman]

Just wondering if this sums up what arbitrage in the bitcoin world is today:

1. When bitcoins are priced differently on different exchanged you can buy on one withdraw then deposit on another and sell your bitcoin, however since no APIs have withdrawal and deposit functions this must be done manually

2. People with super fast bots will do triangular arb on on exchange, like USD->LTC->BTC->USD all on BTC-e, and if there is discrepancy they will profit, however this is only done by people with super fast computers who complete maybe 3 circles/second and can't be done well by regular folk. (They can also involve more currencies on the same exchange)


Does this sum it up well or am I missing something? or am I incorrect?

[SecondsOld]

Yeah that's pretty accurate.  I've been trading btc on exchanges for over a year and the process is much more difficult than it sounds.  The only time I've been able to make significant profits is when one exchange has very low volume for a particular coin.

[kivsman]

Yeah that's pretty accurate.  I've been trading btc on exchanges for over a year and the process is much more difficult than it sounds.  The only time I've been able to make significant profits is when one exchange has very low volume for a particular coin.

Are you a market maker?

(I take it you were making money by putting in your bids/asks when there is poor market depth)