Skip to content

Glossary

Arbitrage

Buying something in one market and selling it in another where it is worth more.

Arbitrage is the oldest business model there is: find the same thing priced differently in two places, buy low, sell high, keep the spread. Retail arbitrage does it with clearance stock and marketplaces. Labour arbitrage does it with wage differences between countries. Information arbitrage does it with knowledge one group has and another wants.

The catch is that arbitrage is self-destroying. Every trade you make narrows the gap you are exploiting, and every competitor who notices narrows it faster. Treat arbitrage profits as funding for something durable, not as a business you will still be running in ten years.

Related terms