Author

Topic: bitgo arbitrage tool (Read 1633 times)

newbie
Activity: 19
Merit: 0
September 07, 2013, 10:24:16 PM
#6
More opportunities exist including other brokerages, can you add btc-e and virtex? More realistic due to withdrawal processing issues with gox etc.
hero member
Activity: 882
Merit: 501
Ching-Chang;Ding-Dong
August 23, 2013, 12:53:25 PM
#5
502 Bad Gateway

nginx/1.4.1
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
August 22, 2013, 06:11:27 AM
#4
Indeed I broke it; sorry about that! back now.

https://bitgo.com/arbitrage.
member
Activity: 116
Merit: 10
August 21, 2013, 11:20:45 PM
#3
I don't know if its just me but I'm getting a Page Not Found Sad. Sounds cool though so I hope it comes back!
newbie
Activity: 35
Merit: 0
August 21, 2013, 08:19:21 PM
#2
I am with you 100% on the Mt Gox thing. At AK Coins, an online precious metals store, we use Bitstamp for our BTC exchange rates. Mt. Gox is simply not a realistic rate for merchants to use. You can't exchange USD at the Mt Gox rate, or do it in a reasonable timeframe. Furthermore, they are always having legal and technical issues, so I have stopped using them for pretty much everything.

Unless Mt. Gox spreads tighten to nearly the exact same price as Bitstamp, they will continue to lose market share and become irrelevant.

P.S. Nice arbitrage tool. Tools like this make price discovery better and end up tightening spreads naturally. Good stuff.
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
August 21, 2013, 06:00:28 PM
#1
I hacked up a little arbitrage tool a couple of weeks ago which looks at the various order books and factors out some of the fees.  It simulates coinbase as an exchange too, assuming that they'd honor their posted price for large purchases (may or may not be true).  If anyone wants to play with it, here you go.  But it's not a real 'product':

   https://bitgo.com/arbitrage

My thoughts:
   - As an industry, I hope all sites will stop citing MtGox prices.  By doing so, we're propping up an exchange that is fundamentally broken and will be hurtful to real bitcoin users.  They are broken because even if you virtually cash out there, you don't really have the money.  It is not possible to withdraw in a reasonable period of time.  The money is illiquid at best and gone at worst.

   - I believe the run-up for MtGox prices is due to supply and demand.  As the top-brand for bitcoin purchasers, new buyers are still willing to go to that site, because we're all citing it as a trustworthy place to go.  However, large sellers have left because they can't have substantial funds tied up in MtGox.  Even if you trust MtGox, the governments are too unpredictable to trust.  This leaves us with steady demand to buy but decreasing supply -- and the prices go up.

Anyway, hope someone finds this tool useful as a mental exercise if nothing else!

Mike
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