Cryptocurrency arbitrage in 2025 - Relevance, Prospects and Risks

What is Cryptocurrency Arbitrage?

Cryptocurrency arbitrage – is a process that involves finding profitable combinations. A combination refers to an asset that is cheaper on one exchange and more expensive on another. The arbitrageur's task is to find such a combination and, taking advantage of market inefficiencies, profit from the price difference (spread). 

In 2024, inter-exchange arbitrage is the most popular. Generally, if we go back to the origins of arbitrage, it was initially understood that you buy cheaper in one place and sell more expensively in another. However, with the advent of cryptocurrency exchanges, this rule has somewhat changed: early trading platforms allowed finding combinations within them without resorting to other exchanges. Suppose a cryptocurrency exchange has the following rates for three cryptocurrencies:

• BTC/ETH: 1 BTC = 25 ETH;

• ETH/LTC: 1 ETH = 100 LTC;

• LTC/BTC: 1 LTC = 0.004 BTC.
  
  

Arbitrage steps:

• Buy 1 BTC for 1 BTC → get 25 ETH (at the BTC/ETH rate);

• Exchange 25 ETH for LTC: 25 ETH * 100 LTC = 2500 LTC (at the ETH/LTC rate);

• Exchange 2500 LTC back to BTC: 2500 LTC * 0.004 BTC = 10 BTC (at the LTC/BTC rate).

Unfortunately, today, combinations within a single exchange are rare due to the emergence of trading bots launched by the platforms themselves. This is done to avoid price gaps that "enterprising" users, i.e., arbitrageurs, could exploit, and to close market inefficiencies. However, inter-exchange arbitrage continues to be profitable, and profitable combinations are found using a cryptocurrency screener, which we will discuss next.   

Will Crypto Arbitrage Be Relevant in 2025?

In 2025, crypto arbitrage will not disappear but will continue to bring profits. There are all the prerequisites for this:

• Bullish trend in the crypto market. Trump's victory in the elections and the Bitcoin halving in 2024, after which there is always a renewal of price highs, indicate that the capitalization of the cryptocurrency market will grow;

• Every day, new cryptocurrencies and exchanges appear. As long as this happens, price differences will continue to appear, on which traders will continue to earn;

• The development of L2 blockchains allows for the modernization of decentralized exchanges, and DEX arbitrage continues to gain popularity within the community. L2 networks today already allow DEX exchanges to offer futures trading, significantly reduce transaction fees, and increase liquidity and reduce price slippage.  

Finding Combinations in 2025 

Previously, arbitrageurs had to manually search for combinations. Today, this task is fully automated by Arbitragescanner – the best service for finding arbitrage combinations and on-chain analysis. To find current combinations, service users use the following tools:

• Scanner/Screener – supports many CEX and DEX exchanges. They work without API requests, send notifications about trades every 2 seconds, and allow you to track price differences between any exchanges and tokens. At different times, up to 10,000 spreads are tracked simultaneously – the algorithm will find all suitable combinations. You can also view the history of spreads for arbitrage;

• Futures Screener. You have the opportunity to arbitrate between spot + futures, futures + futures. How does it work? You buy on a spot exchange, short on another exchange, catch the arbitrage difference of 2-3%, compare prices, and simultaneously earn a percentage from funding. Service clients earn from 5-50% per month on their deposit. 

Additionally, service users have access to many on-chain analysis tools, which allow you to determine combinations that may appear in the future. One such tool is the AI wallet search. This is Arbitragescanner's proprietary development: this tool allows you to find similar wallets based on existing ones. For example, you notice that a particular investment fund is buying specific tokens. You enter its address into the AI search and get a list of wallets most similar to the one entered.

Arbitragescanner has other tools that you can explore by registering on the service. 

What Are the Risks?

Like any trading strategy, cryptocurrency arbitrage has risks:

• Price fluctuations. If you are arbitraging spot + spot, the likelihood that the price will change while you transfer crypto from one exchange to another increases significantly. However, if you use the spot + futures strategy, you can avoid this problem;

• Fund transfer time. Some exchanges may take a long time to withdraw crypto. This could be due to the platform's processes or a technical malfunction in the cryptocurrency or exchange network. In any case, this can be clarified in advance to avoid losses from the combination;

• Fees. This risk is more relevant to arbitrageurs with a small deposit (less than $1,000). For those arbitraging tens of thousands of dollars, a trading fee that does not exceed 0.05% and $1 for withdrawing crypto from the exchange will not stop them from earning several percent from one combination;

• Liquidity. Some cryptocurrencies, especially newly emerged ones, have liquidity issues: they are difficult to buy or sell. It is recommended to approach such coins with caution and clarify in advance whether arbitrage is possible. 

Conclusion

There are no ways to make good money that do not carry some risks. Trading and investments can also lead to losses if done without the necessary information. 

Crypto arbitrage today allows you to minimize risks through various strategies and with the help of Arbitragescanner, whose tools make it easy and quick to find profitable combinations. Don't stay on the sidelines – start earning with Arbitragescanner users!