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so here's a naive question : why aren't people simply playing off the price differentials between mt gox, bitstamp and btc (more than $7 when I just opened the

by plg 13y ago

so here's a naive question : why aren't people simply playing off the price differentials between mt gox, bitstamp and btc (more than $7 when I just opened the OP's page) and making a ton of money? or maybe they are? or maybe commissions / fees are so high they eat up any profit?

askmike 13y ago
Yep, it's pretty hard and slow to move the money around (in and out of the exchanges) and all the fees eat away almost all profits.
TomGullen 13y ago
Buy 10 BTC at btc-e.com for 831.66 USD Sell on MtGox for 591.18 GBP = 901.73 USD (my account is set to GBP) That's 70.07 USD profit from 10 BTC, or ~$7 USD per bitcoin traded. Seems like a good opportunity. The problem is you can't cycle your money quickly, it takes time to sell bitcoin for cash and withdraw it ready for the next cycle. But I mean there's the potential to make ~8% on each cycle. Buying, transfering and selling should also be a fairly quick process so you're not exposing yourself too much. I think as soon as instant cash deposit/withdrawls are available through various exchanges these gaps will close up pretty fast.
- simondlr 13y ago
  You can also play arbitrage between altcoins (BTC to LTC, or LTC to XMP, or any other). On Vircurex, Cryptsy, BTC-e, etc. Even with liquidity being lower you can see them being rather close on the different exchanges.
  - jjsz 13y ago
    Do you know of an economic or finance course that can help me understand how to use Bitcoin or any other currency. There's all the articles explaining Bitcoin but none treating it like a foreign currency and teaching how to apply foreign trade. I'll just search foreign trading at the library in the mean time...
    - lmm 13y ago
      Look at commodities trading books too. Bitcoin et al are not quite as liquid as most forex markets, so they tend to behave more like a commodity.
ponyous 13y ago
I heard mtgox is not paying out lately

by plg 13y ago

askmike 13y ago

Yep, it's pretty hard and slow to move the money around (in and out of the exchanges) and all the fees eat away almost all profits.

TomGullen 13y ago

Buy 10 BTC at btc-e.com for 831.66 USD Sell on MtGox for 591.18 GBP = 901.73 USD (my account is set to GBP) That's 70.07 USD profit from 10 BTC, or ~$7 USD per bitcoin traded. Seems like a good opportunity. The problem is you can't cycle your money quickly, it takes time to sell bitcoin for cash and withdraw it ready for the next cycle. But I mean there's the potential to make ~8% on each cycle. Buying, transfering and selling should also be a fairly quick process so you're not exposing yourself too much. I think as soon as instant cash deposit/withdrawls are available through various exchanges these gaps will close up pretty fast.

simondlr 13y ago
You can also play arbitrage between altcoins (BTC to LTC, or LTC to XMP, or any other). On Vircurex, Cryptsy, BTC-e, etc. Even with liquidity being lower you can see them being rather close on the different exchanges.
- jjsz 13y ago
  Do you know of an economic or finance course that can help me understand how to use Bitcoin or any other currency. There's all the articles explaining Bitcoin but none treating it like a foreign currency and teaching how to apply foreign trade. I'll just search foreign trading at the library in the mean time...
  - lmm 13y ago
    Look at commodities trading books too. Bitcoin et al are not quite as liquid as most forex markets, so they tend to behave more like a commodity.

ponyous 13y ago

I heard mtgox is not paying out lately