Most arbitrage loops settle in USDT — it's the common denominator of every exchange. This guide walks the loop end-to-end with real numbers: where profit comes from, what fees take, and where beginners silently lose money.
The anatomy of one loop
- Find the gap. Coin X costs $0.00305 on exchange A and $0.00410 on exchange B — a 34% raw spread. A scanner surfaces this in seconds.
- Verify before you buy. Is deposit open on B? Is withdrawal open on A for coin X? Is there volume on both sides? Skipping this step is the #1 cause of stuck funds.
- Buy on A, withdraw to B. Pick the fastest cheap network both sides support.
- Sell on B into USDT. Your profit is now realized in USDT on exchange B.
- Route USDT back to exchange A (or keep working capital distributed across venues to skip this step entirely).
The real fee math
Say you work $1,000 with a 2% spread: gross $20. Subtract taker fees ~0.1%×2 = $2, coin withdrawal fee (varies, often $0.5–3), and USDT return leg if needed (TRC-20 ≈ $1–3, Solana ≈ $0.01, BSC ≈ $0.1). Net: roughly $13–17 per loop. That's why professionals ignore spreads under ~0.5% and love coins with cheap networks.
Network speed decides everything
- Solana — seconds, near-zero fee. Best when both venues support it.
- TRC-20 — ~1 minute, cheap. The workhorse for USDT legs.
- BSC/BEP-20 — ~1 minute, cheap, wide support.
- ERC-20 — minutes and $1–10 fee; usually kills small loops.
DexAgent shows open networks for every opportunity right in the table — check the live scanner before moving anything.
Three silent profit killers
Slippage — thin books mean your sell fills below the displayed price; respect the volume column. Spread decay — a gap living 90 seconds dies while a slow network confirms; match network speed to spread size. Suspended withdrawals — the spread often exists because a network is paused; that's exactly why network status matters more than the percentage.
Related reading: P2P arbitrage · choosing a scanner. Educational content, not financial advice.