Have you guys noticed the EUR price at Bitcoin24? It's at 64 right now compared to 60 at MtGox and has been to 69.6 which translates to $89. One could easily make a handsome profit by doing some arbitrage.
How long does it take to withdraw Euros from Bitcoin24 then get the deposit to clear at MtGox? What can happen to the Bitcoin price in that time?
For short-term arbitrage, you just need to keep funding the accounts with BTC and $ then flip. You don't have to move the $ around at short notice.
Problem is: those EUR markets have been higher than mtgoxEUR for weeks now.
When you want to capitalize on this, you should act very fast, not moving euros around. You could for instance send 420 BTC to Bitcoin24 and sell for 63+, gaining EUR 26460. Then simultaneously buy 420 BTC for 61 EUR at MtGox with fiat you have in your account there. You just made 840 euros. A couple of these trades each week and you could give up your job.
you need buffers at the exchanges for that. This incurs time value cost of the moneys you have laying around (earning no interest).
Assuming it takes 5 days to move the fiat from bitcoin-central sepa account to mtGox account and have it credited. So you had 26,000 laying around for 5 days (not even countain a possible wait for the conditions to be right). So you made 3.2% in 5 days (roughly 0.64% a day).
In a bull-market like this, you could've just lent out that fiat on bitfinex and probably gotten more than that.
Also don't forget moving such amounts of fiat every 5 days likely triggers some AML/KYC issues and maybe tax problems.
Yes, but using the money for arbitrage opportunities is somewhat less risky. About the AML/KYC triggers, isn't this only a real problem when your not being honest on your tax filings?
