Fee & Capital Optimization

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

The headline gap is not the result. Start with the net.

What the example shows

A $100 crypto arbitrage buy can leave a profit, but a 2% price gap is not $2 in your pocket. In this hypothetical example, $2 gross falls to $0.80 before tax—and the setup needs roughly $200 of cash and coins across two exchanges, not $100 total.

Run your own numbers

UpdatedOctober 12, 2026

Hypothetical example — not a live opportunity

Result: $0.80 remaining before tax

What remains from a $100 buy at a 2% gap?

gross difference: $2.00
trading fees: − $0.20
rebalancing costs: − $1.00
remaining before tax: = $0.80

Price movement, slippage beyond the quoted fills, funding costs, tax, failed orders, and account restrictions are excluded. Any one of them can erase the $0.80.

Buy 100 coins at an executable $1.00 ask on Exchange A.
Sell 100 already-held coins at an executable $1.02 bid on Exchange B.
Combined buy-and-sell trading fees are assumed to be $0.20.
Cash and coin rebalancing costs are assumed to total $1.00.

Where the money comes from

Cross-exchange arbitrage means buying a coin where its executable ask is lower and selling the same amount where its executable bid is higher. Two trading fees and the cost of restoring your balances decide how much of that gap you keep.

Gross: 100 coins bought at $1.00 and sold at $1.02 is $2.00.
Trading fees: 0.10% of the $100.00 buy is $0.10, and 0.10% of the $102.00 sale is $0.102.
Rebalancing: $1.00 assumed to move cash and coins back.
Net: $2.00 − $0.10 − $0.102 − $1.00 = $0.798, shown as $0.80 before tax.

Break-even: the sell price has to clear about $1.0120

With these costs, the sell bid must reach about $1.0120 against a $1.00 ask, a gap of about 1.20%, before the trade stops losing money. Only the part above that line is yours.

The flat cost does most of the damage: $1.00 is 1% of a $100 buy, half of the 2% gap. And the $0.80 is 0.80% of the buy amount, not a return on the roughly $200 this setup keeps prepared.

$100 buy does not mean $100 total capital

Trading both legs at once needs cash on the cheaper venue and the coin already held on the more expensive one: here $100 cash on Exchange A and 100 coins, about $100, on Exchange B, plus fee reserves. That is roughly $200 across two eligible accounts.

Afterward the balances are lopsided. Restoring them is the rebalancing cost, owed whether or not the next gap appears.

Four checks before you act on a gap

A displayed last price is not enough. Confirm these in your own accounts, then run them through the calculator.

Executable prices: the ask you can buy at and the bid you can sell at.
Depth: enough quantity at those prices to fill your whole size on both legs.
Both fees: your own tier on each venue, at the taker rate for market orders.
Transfers: withdrawal and network fees, with deposits and withdrawals open for that coin and network.

When this is worth considering—and when it is not

A small test can be worth considering when both accounts are already funded, both orders can fill, transfers work, and the net stays positive on a conservative cost estimate.

Skip it if $100 is your entire budget, you cannot sell the second leg immediately, a fee estimate is missing, or the net only works at the last traded price.

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.

What this example does not promise

The prices and costs above are fixed hypothetical inputs, not current exchange quotes or a typical return. The calculator uses the same kind of inputs: it is not a trade anyone placed and it does not find opportunities.
Exchange eligibility, product access, deposit and withdrawal availability, and fees vary by country and account.
Arbitrage execution can lose money when one leg fails, prices move, liquidity disappears, or rebalancing costs rise.

Next step

Best for

Compare the costs before you compare the spread

Use the existing low-fee scenarios to compare published base trading costs, then verify the live fee and withdrawal terms on each eligible exchange.

Compare the Trading Costs Run your own numbers

Check the method and costs

Next step

Crypto arbitrage calculator

Change the buy amount, both prices, both fees, and the rebalancing cost to see net, break-even, and prefunding.

Next step

BitMEX: Crypto Arbitrage—A Practical Guide

Exchange-published background on prefunding, simultaneous execution, fees, and rebalancing.

Next step

Coinbase: What Is Crypto Arbitrage Trading?

A second exchange explanation of arbitrage types and why multiple trading fees matter.

Guide route

Slippage vs Fees on Crypto Exchanges

Use this if the displayed spread looks attractive but the executable price is unclear.

FAQ

Can I start cross-exchange crypto arbitrage with only $100 total?

Not with the prefunded two-exchange setup shown here. A $100 buy requires roughly another $100 of the same coin on the sell venue, plus fee reserves.

Is the $0.80 profit guaranteed?

No. It is a hypothetical remainder from fixed inputs. Worse fills, higher costs, a failed leg, transfer limits, or price movement can reduce it or turn it negative.

What gap do I need to break even on a $100 arbitrage buy?

With 0.10% on each leg and a $1.00 rebalancing cost, the sell bid has to be about $1.0120 against a $1.00 ask, a gap of about 1.20%. Higher fees or a larger fixed transfer cost push that line up.

Why do fixed fees hurt a $100 trade so much?

A percentage trading fee shrinks with the trade, but a withdrawal or network fee usually does not. A flat $1.00 is 1% of a $100 buy, which is half of a 2% gap before either trading fee is paid.

Why can’t I use the last price shown on each exchange?

Last prices may come from trades you cannot repeat at your size. The relevant numbers are the executable ask, executable bid, and available order-book depth for both legs.