So I see a lot of price discrepancies as I look at coins. I was wondering if arbitrage is effective and what coins to look for that offer the best results. For example, I bought a bunch of BTG for $74 and then later sold it when it hit bittrex for more than $300. Also, is this even legal?
As others have stated, it's legal and it could be risky, depending on what you're trying to do.
Yesterday, there was an awesome opportunity with SBD/Steem. SBD rose from $2 or $3 to $12.40... That's great on its own already, but what if you add in arbitrage?
Sell SBD for a high price, buy STEEM with the money you obtained, turn it into SBD and you just multiplied your SBD. Did this a couple times yesterday and it turned my 7 SBD into 18 SBD, on top of its growth from $2 to $12.40.
That's the power of arbitrage and the largest risk there is to it, is the failure of exchanges to deliver a good withdrawal/deposit service.