IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2002.12274.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Empirical Analysis of Indirect Internal Conversions in Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Author

Listed:
  • Paz Grimberg
  • Tobias Lauinger
  • Damon McCoy

Abstract

Algorithmic trading is well studied in traditional financial markets. However, it has received less attention in centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) attributed the $2010$ flash crash, one of the most turbulent periods in the history of financial markets that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose $9\%$ of its value within minutes, to automated order "spoofing" algorithms. In this paper, we build a set of methodologies to characterize and empirically measure different algorithmic trading strategies in Binance, a large centralized cryptocurrency exchange, using a complete data set of historical trades. We find that a sub-strategy of triangular arbitrage is widespread, where bots convert between two coins through an intermediary coin, and obtain a favorable exchange rate compared to the direct one. We measure the profitability of this strategy, characterize its risks, and outline two strategies that algorithmic trading bots use to mitigate their losses. We find that this strategy yields an exchange ratio that is $0.144\%$, or $14.4$ basis points (bps) better than the direct exchange ratio. $2.71\%$ of all trades on Binance are attributable to this strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Paz Grimberg & Tobias Lauinger & Damon McCoy, 2020. "Empirical Analysis of Indirect Internal Conversions in Cryptocurrency Exchanges," Papers 2002.12274, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2002.12274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.12274
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z & Ludovico Minati & Pawe{l} O'swik{e}cimka & Marek Stanuszek & Marcin Wk{a}torek, 2019. "Signatures of crypto-currency market decoupling from the Forex," Papers 1906.07834, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2019.
    2. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 293-319.
    4. Aiba, Yukihiro & Hatano, Naomichi & Takayasu, Hideki & Marumo, Kouhei & Shimizu, Tokiko, 2002. "Triangular arbitrage as an interaction among foreign exchange rates," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 467-479.
    5. Daniel J. Fenn & Sam D. Howison & Mark McDonald & Stacy Williams & Neil F. Johnson, 2008. "The Mirage of Triangular Arbitrage in the Spot Foreign Exchange Market," Papers 0812.0913, arXiv.org.
    6. Thomas Günter Fischer & Christopher Krauss & Alexander Deinert, 2019. "Statistical Arbitrage in Cryptocurrency Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Yukihiro Aiba & Naomichi Hatano & Hideki Takayasu & Kouhei Marumo & Tokiko Shimizu, 2002. "Triangular arbitrage as an interaction among foreign exchange rates," Papers cond-mat/0202391, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2002.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Binh Nguyen Quang & Thai‐Ha Le & Canh Nguyen Phuc, 2022. "Influences of uncertainty on the returns and liquidity of cryptocurrencies: Evidence from a portfolio approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2497-2513, April.
    2. Ye Wang & Yan Chen & Haotian Wu & Liyi Zhou & Shuiguang Deng & Roger Wattenhofer, 2021. "Cyclic Arbitrage in Decentralized Exchanges," Papers 2105.02784, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ye Wang & Yan Chen & Haotian Wu & Liyi Zhou & Shuiguang Deng & Roger Wattenhofer, 2021. "Cyclic Arbitrage in Decentralized Exchanges," Papers 2105.02784, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    2. Marcin Wątorek & Jarosław Kwapień & Stanisław Drożdż, 2022. "Multifractal Cross-Correlations of Bitcoin and Ether Trading Characteristics in the Post-COVID-19 Time," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Schnaubelt, Matthias, 2022. "Deep reinforcement learning for the optimal placement of cryptocurrency limit orders," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 296(3), pages 993-1006.
    4. Ao Shu & Feiyang Cheng & Jianlei Han & Zini Liang & Zheyao Pan, 2023. "Arbitrage across different Bitcoin exchange venues: Perspectives from investor base and market related events," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 5183-5210, December.
    5. Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z & Jaros{l}aw Kwapie'n & Pawe{l} O'swik{e}cimka & Tomasz Stanisz & Marcin Wk{a}torek, 2020. "Complexity in economic and social systems: cryptocurrency market at around COVID-19," Papers 2009.10030, arXiv.org.
    6. Bruzgė, Rasa & Šapkauskienė, Alfreda, 2022. "Network analysis on Bitcoin arbitrage opportunities," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Marcin Wk{a}torek & Jaros{l}aw Kwapie'n & Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z, 2022. "Multifractal cross-correlations of bitcoin and ether trading characteristics in the post-COVID-19 time," Papers 2208.01445, arXiv.org.
    8. Julia Reynolds & Leopold Sögner & Martin Wagner, 2021. "Deviations from Triangular Arbitrage Parity in Foreign Exchange and Bitcoin Markets," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 13(2), pages 105-146, June.
    9. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    10. Huang, Guan-Ying & Gau, Yin-Feng & Wu, Zhen-Xing, 2022. "Price discovery in fiat currency and cryptocurrency markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    11. Saggese, Pietro & Belmonte, Alessandro & Dimitri, Nicola & Facchini, Angelo & Böhme, Rainer, 2023. "Arbitrageurs in the Bitcoin ecosystem: Evidence from user-level trading patterns in the Mt. Gox exchange platform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 251-270.
    12. Yeguang Chi & Wenyan Hao & Jiangdong Hu & Zhenkai Ran, 2023. "An empirical investigation on risk factors in cryptocurrency futures," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 1161-1180, August.
    13. Harald Uhlig & Taojun Xie, 2020. "Parallel Digital Currencies and Sticky Prices," Working Papers 2020-188, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    14. Daniel J. Fenn & Sam D. Howison & Mark McDonald & Stacy Williams & Neil F. Johnson, 2008. "The Mirage of Triangular Arbitrage in the Spot Foreign Exchange Market," Papers 0812.0913, arXiv.org.
    15. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2022. "Cryptocurrency returns under empirical asset pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    16. Foley, Sean & Krekel, William & Mollica, Vito & Svec, Jiri, 2023. "Not so fast: Identifying and remediating slow and imprecise cryptocurrency exchange data," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    17. Alberto Ciacci & Takumi Sueshige & Hideki Takayasu & Kim Christensen & Misako Takayasu, 2020. "The microscopic relationships between triangular arbitrage and cross-currency correlations in a simple agent based model of foreign exchange markets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, June.
    18. Bao, Hong & Li, Jianjun & Peng, Yuchao & Qu, Qiang, 2022. "Can Bitcoin help money cross the border: International evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    19. Maik Schmeling & Andreas Schrimpf & Karamfil Todorov, 2023. "Crypto carry," BIS Working Papers 1087, Bank for International Settlements.
    20. Serdar Neslihanoglu, 2021. "Linearity extensions of the market model: a case of the top 10 cryptocurrency prices during the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-27, December.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2002.12274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.