$100 Crypto Arbitrage: A 2% Gap Isn’t $2 in Your Pocket

Cross-exchange arbitrage means buying the same coin where its executable ask is lower and selling an equal amount where its executable bid is higher. The gap is the gross revenue; both trading fees and the later cost of restoring cash and coin balances decide what you keep.

To trade both legs at roughly the same time, you normally need cash ready on the cheaper venue and the coin already held on the more expensive venue. Moving the coin only after you spot the gap is slower and leaves the sell price exposed.

This example uses $100 cash on Exchange A and about $100 of the same coin on Exchange B, plus fee reserves. That is roughly $200 prepared across two eligible accounts before the trade begins.

A displayed last price is not enough. Check the ask you can actually buy, the bid you can actually sell, available order-book size, two trading fees, and every transfer or rebalancing cost.

A small test can be worth considering when both accounts are already funded, both orders can fill, deposits and withdrawals work, and the net margin stays positive after a conservative cost estimate. It can teach the mechanics without pretending the result is typical income.

Skip this setup if $100 is your entire budget, you cannot sell the second leg immediately, or one fee estimate is missing. A tiny positive estimate is not much protection against a worse fill or a blocked transfer.

I started with roughly $10K and built more than $10M in cumulative gains through arbitrage and futures. The durable lesson for a $100 test is still the boring one: price the exit, both fees, and the rebalance before chasing the spread. My history is not your expected result.