FuturesAI Arbitrage: How to Check a Spread Beats Fees
Short answer: Count four fills, not two. Each arbitrage cycle buys on one exchange, sells on another, then closes both. At standard market fees, a Bybit-Bitget cycle costs 0.23% of notional. The mean spread in FuturesAI’s article is 0.031%. Even FuturesAI’s effective limit fees add up to 0.042%. The spread doesn’t cover the fees in any retail case here.
A price gap between two exchanges looks like free money. Bitcoin at one price on Bybit, a little higher on Bitget, buy one and sell the other.
The gap is real. What decides the outcome is the fee you pay four times to capture it.
This check uses two FuturesAI sources, both read on October 29, 2026. The spread data comes from FuturesAI’s cross-exchange arbitrage article (February 24, 2026), which reports 2024 BTC/USDT figures. The fee rates come from FuturesAI’s payback pages for Bybit, Bitget and OKX. Nothing here is a trading recommendation.
Inside This Check
- How big are cross-exchange BTC spreads?
- How many fees does one arbitrage cycle pay?
- Does a 0.031% spread beat retail fees?
- What does that look like on $10,000?
- What else does arbitrage need besides low fees?
- Your own spread-vs-fee check
How big are cross-exchange BTC spreads?
Cross-exchange BTC/USDT spreads averaged between 0.018% and 0.045% across five exchange pairs in 2024, with median durations of 1.2 to 8.3 seconds, according to FuturesAI’s February 2026 article on cross-exchange arbitrage.
| Exchange pair (FuturesAI article) | Mean spread | Median duration | Daily opportunities | Article’s net after fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance-Bybit | 0.018% | 1.2s | 342 | 0.003% |
| Binance-OKX | 0.022% | 1.8s | 287 | 0.007% |
| Bybit-Bitget | 0.031% | 2.4s | 198 | 0.011% |
| OKX-Bitget | 0.028% | 2.1s | 223 | 0.008% |
| Binance-dYdX | 0.045% | 8.3s | 156 | 0.005% |
The FuturesAI arbitrage article also says average net spread after fees shrank from 0.015% in Q1 2024 to 0.008% in Q4 2024.
When I checked the last column against the spread column, I noticed that the article’s fee assumption is very low. For Bybit-Bitget it implies about 0.020% of total fees. The article doesn’t say which fee tier that is. Retail rates are a different story.
This guide uses the two pairs where FuturesAI publishes fees for both exchanges: Bybit-Bitget and OKX-Bitget.
How many fees does one arbitrage cycle pay?
One cross-exchange arbitrage cycle pays four trading fees on roughly the same notional: a buy on the cheaper exchange and a sell on the dearer one to open, then two more fills to close both positions.
Here are the per-fill rates from FuturesAI’s payback pages:
| Exchange | Standard limit | Standard market | Effective limit after discount and payback | Effective market after discount and payback | Who pays the payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bybit | 0.02% | 0.055% | 0.016% | 0.044% | Bybit directly |
| Bitget | 0.02% | 0.06% | 0.005% | 0.015% | FuturesAI, daily |
| OKX | 0.02% | 0.05% | 0.016% | 0.04% | OKX directly |
Sources: FuturesAI Bybit page, FuturesAI Bitget page, FuturesAI OKX page.
So the cost of one cycle is 2 ร (fee on exchange A + fee on exchange B). That formula is the whole check.
This part trips a lot of people up. They compare the spread with one fee, or with the two opening fees, and stop there.
Does a 0.031% spread beat retail fees?
A 0.031% Bybit-Bitget BTC spread doesn’t beat retail fees: four fills cost 0.23% at standard market rates, 0.118% at FuturesAI’s effective market rates and 0.042% even at FuturesAI’s effective limit rates, using the fee figures on FuturesAI’s payback pages in October 2026.
| Fee scenario (4 fills) | Bybit-Bitget cost | Net vs 0.031% spread | OKX-Bitget cost | Net vs 0.028% spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard market fees | 0.230% | -0.199% | 0.220% | -0.192% |
| Effective market fees via FuturesAI | 0.118% | -0.087% | 0.110% | -0.082% |
| Standard limit fees | 0.080% | -0.049% | 0.080% | -0.052% |
| Effective limit fees via FuturesAI | 0.042% | -0.011% | 0.042% | -0.014% |
Every row is negative. The closest is the effective limit row, at about -0.011% for Bybit-Bitget.
And that row is the least realistic. A limit order rests on the book and waits. FuturesAI’s article puts the median life of a Bybit-Bitget spread at 2.4 seconds, so one leg can fill while the other doesn’t. The article calls this leg risk.
What does that look like on $10,000?
On $10,000 of notional per leg, a 0.031% Bybit-Bitget spread is worth $3.10, while four fills at FuturesAI’s effective market rates cost $11.80, a loss of $8.70 per cycle before slippage.
| Fee scenario, $10,000 per leg | Spread captured | Fees for 4 fills | Net per cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard market fees | $3.10 | $23.00 | -$19.90 |
| Effective market fees via FuturesAI | $3.10 | $11.80 | -$8.70 |
| Standard limit fees | $3.10 | $8.00 | -$4.90 |
| Effective limit fees via FuturesAI | $3.10 | $4.20 | -$1.10 |
I found that the spread would need to be about four times wider just to break even at the effective market rate. On the standard market rate, it would need to be more than seven times wider.
FuturesAI’s article lists 198 Bybit-Bitget opportunities a day. Losing $8.70 on each would be a fast way to empty an account.
What else does arbitrage need besides low fees?
Profitable cross-exchange arbitrage needs co-located servers within 5ms of exchange matching engines, $50K+ pre-funded on each venue, order execution under 100ms round trip and real-time spread tracking across 10+ pairs, according to FuturesAI’s February 2026 arbitrage article.
The article sets the minimum capital at $250K+. It also lists four risks:
- Execution risk: one leg fills and the other doesn’t.
- Transfer risk: network congestion delays moving funds between exchanges.
- Exchange risk: withdrawal freezes or API downtime.
- Regulatory risk: changing cross-border transfer rules.
There’s one more for anyone counting on a payback. FuturesAI’s payback pages say exchanges treat high-frequency trading as a rule violation, and if an exchange stops commissions for a UID, FuturesAI applies the same suspension. A strategy that fires hundreds of orders a day should read each exchange’s own rules first.
Price gaps also look bigger on a screen than they are at the moment you fill. Our guide to You Followed the Trading Signal and Got a Different Result covers that gap from the signal side.
Your own spread-vs-fee check
- Write down the per-fill fee you actually pay on each exchange, maker and taker.
- Add the two exchanges’ fees and double it. That’s your cycle cost.
- Compare it with the spread you see at the moment you could fill both legs, not the best spread of the day.
- Subtract an allowance for slippage on both legs.
- Only if the result is still positive, test it on a small size.
For how a maker-taker mix changes the per-fill number, use Maker vs Taker Rebate Calculator: Your Mix Sets the Cost. For a wider fee comparison, see Crypto Futures Fees Compared (2026).
Tips
- Use the fee you pay today, not one you’d get at a future VIP tier.
- Count funding payments if positions stay open across a funding time.
- Check that both exchanges list the same contract, with the same settlement asset.
- Keep a log of real fills. Quoted spreads overstate what you capture.
Warnings
- This is not investment advice. Leveraged futures can lose the full principal.
- FuturesAI’s spread data is from 2024 and may not match today’s markets.
- Payback can be suspended for high-frequency trading, per FuturesAI’s payback pages.
- Fee rates and payback terms can change. Check each exchange before trading.
FAQ
Why count four fills instead of two?
A cross-exchange arbitrage trade opens with a buy on one exchange and a sell on the other, then closes both positions later, so each cycle pays a trading fee four times on roughly the same notional. Counting only the two opening fills halves the fee and makes thin spreads look profitable.
Can limit orders make cross-exchange arbitrage pay?
Only in theory for most traders. Even at the effective limit fees on FuturesAI’s Bybit and Bitget pages, four fills cost 0.042%, above the 0.031% mean Bybit-Bitget spread in FuturesAI’s article, and a limit order may not fill inside a 2.4-second window.
Does fee payback still apply to high-frequency arbitrage trading?
It can be suspended. FuturesAI’s payback pages say exchanges treat high-frequency trading, including click farming and wash trading, as a rule violation, and that when an exchange stops commissions for a trader or UID, FuturesAI applies the same suspension.
Sources
- FuturesAI: Cross-Exchange Arbitrage Opportunities in 2024 (February 24, 2026)
- FuturesAI: Bybit payback policy
- FuturesAI: Bitget payback policy
- FuturesAI: OKX payback policy
Next step: open the fee page of the two exchanges you’d use, run step 2 of the check above, and compare it with a live spread before you write a single line of bot code.
Figures checked against FuturesAI’s pages on October 29, 2026. Not investment advice; leverage can lose the full principal.
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