How to Generate Profit With Crypto Futures Arbitrage

Hold spot long + short perpetual futures. Collect the funding fee paid every 8 hours as passive income — zero directional exposure. Best when funding is above 0.05% per 8h.

When funding goes negative, shorts pay longs. Flip the position — short spot + long perpetual futures — and collect funding from the short side. Works best in bear markets and after sharp drops.

Same coin trades at different prices on different exchanges. Buy on the cheaper exchange, sell on the expensive one simultaneously. Profit is locked the moment both legs fill. ArbVertex signals 2%+ net gaps daily.

On the same exchange, spot price and perpetual futures price diverge during high volatility. Buy spot and short futures when futures trade at a large premium — or reverse when futures trade at a discount. No transfer needed.

Buy spot, short quarterly futures at a premium. At expiry, both prices converge to the same value — the premium you captured at entry becomes guaranteed yield. Return is locked in from day one, no price prediction needed.

Trade the spread between spot and futures as a market in itself. Go long basis when futures trade at a discount (contango reversal) or short basis when futures trade at extreme premium. Profit from mean reversion of the spread.

Price gaps between centralised exchanges (Binance, Bybit) and decentralised on-chain perpetuals (dYdX, Hyperliquid, GMX). DEX prices lag CEX during fast moves — exploit the gap before it closes on-chain.

Three pairs on one exchange are momentarily mispriced relative to each other. Route BTC → ETH → USDT → BTC — if the loop returns more than you started with after fees, the difference is profit. No transfer needed, but gaps close in milliseconds.