🥯 arbitrage
tl;dr
-
liquidity on-chain is fragmented: there are thousands of uniswap-like pools that don't communicate with each other, each providing quotes for swapping assets in real time. fragmented liquidity creates opportunity to buy low and sell high accross different pools.
-
arbitrage refers to the simultaneous buying and selling of tokens in different markets in order to take advantage of price discrepancies of that asset.
-
the simplest MEV opportunity: two DEXes offering a token at two different prices, someone can buy the token on the lower-priced DEX and sell it on the higher priced DEX in a single atomic transaction.
-
atomicity is what makes things different in defi: the blockchain's state updates on a block-by-block basis, which means that a tx can perform multiple actions, provided that the end state of the tx is correct (flash loans)
-
most of the atomic arbitrage space is dominated by a few addresses, who land most of the profitable arbs. this is a very competitive space, and success is derived from a mixture of cleverness, low latency and good infrastructure.