Update: I've added a guide for those who are new to trading on how to take advantage of this below.
Firstly, it's pretty impressive that SBD (Steem dollar) is being traded at a premium over 50% on both Bittrex and Poloniex.
So if there's ever a time to sell SBD I would recommend selling it now (as I did), unless you expect this inefficiency to last (SBD can always be converted to $1 worth of Steem).
On top of that inefficiency, at the time of writing this post, there was a +7% difference between the buy price on Bittrex and the sell price on Poloniex.
For some reason, I suspect due to trader infamiliarity with Steem, prices consistently trade at a higher price on Poloniex than on Bittrex.
What does this mean?
You can keep money on both accounts and buy/sell on Bittrex and Poloniex pretty much all day, to take advantage of 7% of free cash.
There is a minimum 0.25% fee per trade on Poloniex and on Bittrex.
Approx 5% arbitrage after I'd finished my post (but it fluctuates between 3-8%!) :
Trading Example:
- Assuming 5% arbitrage, and a 0.25% fee once you buy and a 0.25% fee once you sell, on both Poloniex and Bittrex.
- Assuming you can buy at $1.60 on Bittrex and sell at $1.68 on Poloniex.
Note: I'm denominating BTC in $ for simplicity.
So this in this example convert all the $ to bitcoins.
Place $10 on Bittrex (in BTC i.e. around 0.0148BTC) and 6.23 SBD on Poloniex.
Buy $10 worth of SBD at $1.60 on Bittrex:
1 SBD = $1.60
Note: 10 * 1/1.6 = 10/1.6
$10 * 1/1.60 *(1-0.25%) = 6.23 SBD
Sell 6.23 SBD at $1.68 on Poloniex:
1 SBD = $1.68
6.23*1.68 *(1-0.25%) = $10.448
Before: you had $10 on Bittrex and 6.23SBD on Poloniex.
After: you have $10.448 on Poloniex and 6.23 SBD on Bittrex.
You've just made 4.48%.
Comment: If you don't already have SBD, and believe the opportunity will last, buy SBD quickly at the cheapest rate you can find.
Even if in the first arbitrage 'cycle' you still haven't recouped on your initial investment due to the exchange rate you may have bought at, with a few iterations (probably one more cycle) you will make profit.
