Not all exchange pairs are equal for arbitrage. Each comparison below breaks down why prices diverge, what it really costs to trade the gap, and how to execute — so you pick the right venues for your strategy.
Binance and Kraken are the two deepest spot markets in crypto — and they disagree on price more often than most traders expect. Binance dominates global retail flow while Kraken anchors serious USD and EUR fiat volume, so regional demand shocks hit their order books at different speeds.
Read comparison →
The 'Coinbase premium' is one of the most watched signals in crypto: when BTC trades higher on Coinbase than Binance, it usually means US institutional demand is leading. That premium — sometimes 0.1%, sometimes over 1% in volatile stretches — is a direct arbitrage read.
Read comparison →
Binance and Bybit are both derivatives-heavy giants with deep spot books — and their funding-rate and spot divergences are a playground for arbitrageurs. When leveraged positioning differs between the two, spot prices can decouple briefly.
Read comparison →
Two Asian liquidity titans with deeply overlapping user bases — yet their prices still diverge. OKX's slightly better maker fees attract a different market-maker crowd, and each venue's liquidation engine behaves differently during volatility.
Read comparison →
KuCoin lists long-tail altcoins early — often weeks before Binance. That listing gap is a recurring arbitrage pattern: a token pumps on KuCoin on rumors of a Binance listing, and the two venues' prices diverge wildly around the announcement.
Read comparison →
The two great US-regulated venues — and they still disagree. Kraken's pro-oriented fee schedule and deep EUR books vs Coinbase's massive retail flow create persistent micro-divergences, especially on altcoins where Coinbase retail piles in first.
Read comparison →
Europe's two oldest venues. Kraken and Bitstamp both run serious EUR fiat books, and EUR/USD forex moves ripple through their crypto quotes differently — creating spreads that are part crypto-arb, part FX-arb.
Read comparison →
The derivatives-arbitrageur's pair. Bybit and OKX both run enormous perp books, and their funding rates for the same token frequently disagree — sometimes by 2–3x. That disagreement is directly tradable via cash-and-carry across venues.
Read comparison →
Two US-regulated venues with an institutional bent. Spreads here are rarely dramatic — but they are clean: deep books, reliable withdrawals, no listing chaos. For risk-averse arbitrageurs, this pair offers smaller, more dependable edges.
Read comparison →
The altcoin casino pair. KuCoin and Gate.io both list hundreds of long-tail tokens, often the same ones days apart — and their thin books mean the same token can trade 2–5% apart during hype cycles.
Read comparison →
Want the theory first? Read Cross-Exchange Arbitrage: The Complete Guide or browse all strategy guides.