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What is arbitrage and when does an arbitrage opportunity arise?


John Naronha

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Arbitrage is the process of simultaneously buying and selling securities in two different markets to earn riskless profits arising from price discrepancies in these markets. Theoretically, prices of an asset class should remain the same irrespective of the Exchanges they are trading on and any deviation will lead to traders buying on the exchange where prices are undervalued and selling on the exchange where they are overvalued until prices reach parity. To sum it up, arbitrage opportunities are a direct result of a temporary variation in the prices of a security or asset class on two different platforms due to a delay in the dissemination of prices.

Example: If the price of a security is trading at $10 on the New York Stock Exchange and $10.25 on the NASDAQ, a trader will buy the security at $10 on the NYSE and short it at $10.25 on the NASDAQ, earning 25 cents in riskless profits (excluding transaction and other costs.)

Arbitrage opportunities typically arise due to a lag in the price dissemination between markets. However, with the rapid growth in technology, the number of opportunities have also reduced and prices of securities in most markets are efficiently distributed, with very few occasions for arbitrage. However, in the instance of an arbitrage opportunity, traders are quick to capitalize on the price difference, bringing them back to equilibrium.

Arbitragers like hedge funds are quick to spot such opportunities and generally trade in large volumes, pocketing millions of dollars in profits even in the event of a small change in the price of the underlying security. On the other hand, individual traders engaging in arbitrage in small volumes will not really make huge sums of money since the fees and charges imposed by the broker and the exchanges correspondingly will eat into most of the profits.

 

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Hello John, 

Arbitrage trading refers to buying and selling the same assets in different markets to capitalize on price differences between those markets. Investors use arbitrage to take advantage of price differences of the same or similar asset in different markets. 

Arbitrage came to be because of market inefficiencies. Given that supply and demand are the two main market drivers, a slight change in one of these factors can impact the value of an asset. As a result, momentary glitches occur in the market, providing investors with an opportunity to make a quick profit. 

One of the ways to use arbitrage trading is by utilizing automated trading systems. Those systems use algorithms to identify price differences between the markets and notify the investor to make a move before the market readjusts. 

Here’s a common example of arbitrage trading. Let’s say a price per share of a company on one exchange is $15, while the same stock is trading at $14.95 on another exchange. Buying the stock on the second exchange and selling it on the first one right after would bring a small but quick profit to the investor, hence the arbitrage trading. 

Types of Arbitrage

Two-currency arbitrage refers to taking advantage of the different quotes of two currency pairs rather than price discrepancies between two currencies in the same pair.

Covered interest arbitrage refers to a strategy in which an investor benefits from interest rate differences between two countries while utilizing a forward contract to control the risk of exchange rates. 

Triangular arbitrage is a trading strategy that exploits the price differences between three different currencies and takes advantage of the conversion process of one currency into the other two.

Glad if I’ve helped.
 

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Let me introduce you to an app that I just discovered called gigamax. this app is amazing because it uses the latest AI technology to sell and buy on various platforms, using arbitrage techniques. maybe you can look it up on the internet.

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