Why XRP suits arbitrage
A transfer takes seconds and costs a fraction of a cent. On speed and cost it is among the best coins on the market: while bitcoin spends half an hour in flight, XRP arrives before you can switch tabs.
This is a rare case where transferring during a route is genuinely possible rather than merely theoretical.
The destination tag is the real danger
XRP has a trait most coins lack: transfers to an exchange require a destination tag. It is a number the exchange uses to work out whose account the arriving coins belong to.
The exchange has one address for all its users and tells them apart by the tag. A transfer with no tag or the wrong tag is the most common way money is lost on XRP. Sometimes support can recover it; sometimes not.
The rule has no exceptions: before sending XRP, check the tag was copied along with the address. Exchanges display them side by side, and it is easy to miss precisely because it looks secondary.
The account reserve
A second trait: an XRP wallet must always keep a small reserve or the account ceases to exist. This does not affect exchange transfers, but if you hold your own wallet you cannot empty it to zero.
Where spreads are usually wider
XRP is liquid but noticeably less so than bitcoin and ether, so gaps between venues appear more often. Especially during sharp moves: the coin is known for abrupt jumps, and exchanges diverge more than usual at those moments.
Cheap, fast transfers make those gaps genuinely workable — unlike bitcoin, where the spread closes before the coin arrives.
