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Ok, so say it is lower buy price on exchange 1 than exchange 2 AND exhange 2 has a higher sell price than i bought it initially there. I then buy dash at ex1 and sell my dash on ex2. I make a profit.
I now have dash on exchange 1 and no dash at exchange 2. I now have to wait for ex 1 to have higher sell price - and also have higher sell price than the buyprice was - than ex 2 have buy price. Ex 2 also have to have lower buy price than the sell price was when i bought it.
At this point why do i "arbitrage" at all? Why wouldnt i just do the much simpler buy low sell high? Am i missing something here?
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This is entirely possible, in fact, I am running a bot that does this. You do not make it clear in your post, so i'll do it.
This is really only possible through API automation. Attempting it manually will almost certainly result in missed trades.There are also problems with the technique.
Firstly, since rebalancing between exchanges will incur withdrawal fees you either:
1. Rebalance "naturally" by waiting for the right market condition (might miss trades before markets turns in exchanges)
2. Wait till profits exceed costs of rebalancing (often you can minimize costs by i.e buy x currency with cheap withdraw fees)
Then there is also the issue of missing out on counter trades where your options are to let the order sit till met, or trade it off for a loss, possibly break-even if lucky.
missing out on the first trade is fine, just skip; partial fills are a different story.
In regards to "why do arbitrage at all":
By doing arbitrage, you trade on orders available in the orderbooks and thus (assuming you succesfully can execute the trades) remove the element of speculation ; if you "buy low sell high" you have to wait for the low/high to come, if it ever comes.
I encourage you to try it out if you have any coding capabilities, it's a great project and
will yield profitable opportunities. How often, and how big profits i'll let you find out on your own.
note: I hope you or others will find this useful, i felt bad you had no replies for so long.
best regards,