Or how to profit from discrepancies others ignore
At NFC Lisbon 2025, I promised to share my crypto trading experience with you all.
So here we go — launching a series of articles. First up: arbitrage.
What it is, why it’s been around forever (and isn’t going anywhere), why it’s good for the market, and how to try it yourself.Hope these pieces inspire you — and maybe even spark a new chapter for you in crypto. 🚀
Arbitrage is simple on the surface: you buy an asset where it’s cheaper and sell it where it’s more expensive. The profit comes from the price difference — and when timed perfectly, it doesn’t even matter if the market is going up or down.
There are many forms of this:
- Buy BTC on Bybit, sell it on Kraken.
- Short a futures contract when it trades higher than spot.
- Arbitrage a DeFi token basket against an index.
But the core idea stays the same: difference + speed = profit.
Crypto is a soup of inefficiencies. Even if you feel like everything’s synced, under the hood: Every exchange has its own pricing engine; Blockchains confirm transactions at different speeds; Bridging, gas, and fees eat up value; Time zones and local news cause information delays.
Sometimes, even humans just... get distracted. And that’s when “the window” opens.
Institutional players spend millions shaving off milliseconds from their fiber routes between Chicago and New York. That alone tells you: those price mismatches still matter.
Absolutely. It’s not just good — it’s necessary.
Arbitrage traders are the invisible janitors of the financial system. They clean up chaos by: Tightening price gaps between exchanges, adding liquidity across order books and helping create a "fair price" that others can rely on.
You benefit even if you’ve never traded in your life. Tighter spreads = better execution for you. Arbitrage makes the system healthier.
Okay, here’s the play-by-play:
- You notice BTC is $67,800 on Exchange X, and $68,100 on Exchange Y.
- You check fees, delays, and network costs. If there’s still 0.25% left — you go.
- You buy on X and sell on Y. The faster the execution, the higher the chance you profit.
- If you lag, that sweet price gap might vanish in seconds.
It’s a bit like racing someone invisible — and knowing you only won because you clicked 0.4 seconds sooner.
Want to get a feel for it?
Set up accounts on two CEXs — say, Binance and Kraken. Open their depth charts side by side and monitor a BTC/USDT pair.
If you spot a spread above ~0.2%, run the math: trading fees, gas, withdrawal cost.
Still in the green? Place a small limit buy on the cheaper exchange, and a limit sell on the other.
Start tiny. Most beginners don’t lose money on price movement — they lose it to fees.
Pro tip: use Google Sheets to calculate clean spreads in real time. Formula = your best friend.
Arbitrage gave me a habit I now apply everywhere — spotting broken systems.
Whether I’m building a protocol, structuring a deal, or just watching how info spreads across crypto Twitter, I now ask: “Where’s the inefficiency?”
And another thing: the idea of “knowledge in the chat” is more than a meme. It’s a real edge — if you test it yourself. Always ask:
“Is this price... actually right?”
If this clicked with you, try finding a real spread. Even if you don’t trade it — just see if you can spot one.
Next up: arbitrage between CEXs — automation, ccxt bots, network latency, and more.
Follow along, and feel free to DM me with your own stories or questions.
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DMs are open — don’t hesitate to reach out.