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USDT arbitrage

A coin that should cost a dollar but costs different amounts on different exchanges. Where the difference comes from and how to use it.

SpreadRadar editorial · pryanik.io · · about authorship and sources

Why USDT has a spread at all

A fair question: USDT is pegged to the dollar, so where does a difference come from. The answer is that the peg is held by the market, not by any exchange — and every venue has its own balance of supply and demand.

When many people on one exchange want out into dollars, USDT gets cheaper there; when many want in, it gets dearer. The difference is usually hundredths of a percent, which is real money at size, and occasionally it widens to tenths.

USDT's main advantage for arbitrage

Networks. USDT has more of them than any other coin: TRON, BSC, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, TON, Aptos and a dozen more. Almost any two exchanges share a cheap network, and a transfer costs pennies.

That is precisely why USDT is the main coin for cross-exchange arbitrage: it can be moved quickly and cheaply to wherever it is needed. It is less an object of arbitrage than an instrument for it.

Which network to pick

The cheapest are TRON, BSC, Solana and Polygon, where fees are measured in cents. The dearest is Ethereum mainnet at several dollars per transfer.

Critically: the network must be supported by both exchanges. Sending USDT over TRON to an address the exchange issued for BSC is the most common way to lose money irrecoverably.

Depegging is a different story

Sometimes USDT drifts from the dollar market-wide rather than on one venue. That is not cross-exchange arbitrage but its own subject, better watched in the stablecoins section, where deviation is measured against the real dollar rather than against USDT itself.

Methodology and principles of analytical processing

Forming and structuring the data

The analytical system brings disparate market information together into a single structure, accounting for the specifics of trading directions and the individual characteristics of each platform. That keeps the presentation consistent and the key parameters comparable.

Criteria for forming the results

Forming the analytical selection takes into account the completeness, availability and reliability of the source information. Parameters that meet the established processing and confirmation criteria are included in the calculations. Insufficiently substantiated values are not used in the final results.

Currency of the analytical information

The information presented is kept current through regular refreshing and reconciliation of the analytical parameters. How often that happens is determined by the nature of each category of data and the way it is processed.

Frequently asked

Which network is cheapest for USDT?
Usually TRON, BSC, Solana or Polygon, where fees are within cents. Ethereum mainnet is the dearest. Live fees per exchange are on each venue's page in our exchange section.
Why does USDT cost different amounts on different exchanges?
Because the peg is held by the market, not the exchange. Each venue has its own balance of people entering and exiting dollars, and the price shifts with it.
What happens if I send USDT on the wrong network?
In most cases the money is lost irrecoverably. The sending network and the receiving address's network must match — check this before every transfer.
How is USDT arbitrage different from stablecoin depegging?
Here it is a difference between exchanges; there it is deviation from the dollar market-wide. The latter belongs in its own section, measured against the real dollar.

Arbitrage on other coins

USDC arbitrageThe market's second dollar. It should cost exactly what the first one does — and the gaps in that "exactly" are the routes.Solana arbitrageA fast network, cheap transfers and genuine volatility — the combination where spreads both appear and stay executable.XRP arbitrageOne of the easiest coins to move between exchanges — and one of the most dangerous if you are careless.Dogecoin arbitrageA coin that moves on news rather than fundamentals — and so diverges between exchanges more often than anything else in the top ten.Tron arbitrageA coin people hold to move USDT rather than for itself — and that shapes its market.BNB arbitrageOne exchange's coin that trades on many others — which is exactly where its spreads come from.