In one sentence: Swap A for B, B for C, then C back to A. As long as A increases in the end, you've essentially freeloaded the entire market.

Core Essence

 

The essence is that the math between three trading pairs is miscalculated. You get ahead of others by writing the correct answer first, and the entire price difference goes into your pocket.

The Most Classic Binance Trio Case (Verifiable in Real-Time)

Assume the following quotes appear now (real and frequent):

 

1 BTC = 70,000 USDT

 

1 ETH = 3,500 USDT

 

1 BTC = 19.80 ETH (slightly deviated from normal price)

Forward Three Steps (Most Common)

  1. Step 1: 100,000 USDT → Buy 1.4285 BTC
  2. Step 2: 1.4285 BTC → 28.284 ETH (using the slightly expensive BTC/ETH rate)

  3. Step 3: 28.284 ETH → Sell back for 98,994 USDT + 2,006 USDT profit

     

    The three steps complete in less than 2 seconds, 2% profit, annualized yield explodes off the charts.

Reverse Three Steps (You Can Still Profit by Calculating Backwards)

Sometimes the market errs in the opposite way, so you do the opposite:

 

USDT → ETH → BTC → USDT, still get the meat (profit).

Only Two Types of People Can Truly Eat This Meat

1. People Who Write Bots

Manual by hand? Don't even think about it, the opportunity is gone in 0.3 seconds.

 

Bots monitor 1000+ triplets 24/7, strike three times instantly upon any deviation, eat and retreat.

2. People with Institutional Accounts on Major Exchanges

  • Fees as low as 0.01% or even negative rates
  • Trading latency as low as within 10 milliseconds

  • Free order cancellation

     

    Ordinary retail fees at 0.1%, profits eaten up after three steps.

Can Retail Investors Still Play? Yes, But Need to Simplify

Intra-Exchange Triangles (Most Stable)

Small misalignments often occur inside Binance, OKX, Bybit, with annualized yields of 20-80% very common.

Choose Mainstream Triplets, Don't Mess with Small Coins

  • BTC-USDT-ETH
  • BTC-USDT-BNB

  • ETH-USDT-SOL

     

    These have good depth, low slippage, and many opportunities.

Use Spot Grid + Lightning Swap

Many exchanges now have "one-click triangular arbitrage" or "lightning swap" functions that automatically complete the three steps, the best weapon for retail investors.

Real Case

In November 2024, SOL suddenly surged, and on Binance:

 

1 BTC ≈ 19.95 ETH

 

But the implied rates from ETH/SOL and BTC/SOL calculated to a 1.8% profit

 

Bots rushed in collectively, eating 400 million USD in profit in 10 minutes, while retail investors only smelled the fragrance of leeks.

Retail Survival Iron Laws

  • Don't use leverage; triangular arbitrage is nearly risk-free, adding leverage is like burying a mine for yourself
  • Fees must be minimized (start with VIP3, otherwise it's pure wage labor)
  • Once an opportunity is found, bots can run 1000 times per second; your manual click is already too late
  • If the profit is below 0.3%, don't act; fees + slippage will eat it all

Last Words

Triangular arbitrage is the closest thing to a "money printing machine" in the crypto world,

 

but the money printer always belongs to coders and those who can afford VIP fees.

 

Ordinary people achieving 30% annualized by nibbling on fees should burn incense in gratitude,

 

want to get rich by manual three strikes?

 

Wake up, in 2025's crypto world,

 

the meat is only left for bots and institutions,

 

we at most get to drink some soup.