Strategies are crucial in financial markets. They work as a bridge between a trader and profits. So, benefits come as the byproduct of planning and that goes well with the ideas of market players. The trends of the market change every day. So, people have to the issuer issues new bonds fluctuations, and volatility. Any information can float and alter the course of the market. Moreover, arbitrage trading strategies depend on liquidity.
The entire matter of financial trading is attached to capital. If you have the liquidity, even the mediocre strategy will be set right. Otherwise, you’ll have to draw the best trick from your hat like a wizard. Arbitrage trading strategies turn you into a magician.
Many investors are coming to realise the importance of arbitrage trading. It helps in aggressively hedging and to liquidate positions which is the primary motto of an investor. Thus, the price gets affected. However, if the trader uses a sophisticated strategy, everything can be altered using an arbitrage strategy.
What is an arbitrage strategy?
You can define arbitrage as an investment strategy where a trader or an investor sells and buys assets in various markets. He/she makes a profit by the price difference and generates gains. In addition, with large volumes, profits can be magnificently high. On the other hand, the price difference is generally short-lived and small for a trader. So, what is received as profit does not satisfy the needs of a trader.
There is some caution while you trade using arbitrage trading strategies. However, by using brokers like Brokereo, Capixal, ABinvesting, 101investing, TradedWell, HFTrading and others, you can mitigate that peril and take a sojourn of benefits in the trading market.
Hedge funds commonly leverage arbitrage besides sophisticated investors.
Market players can use different types of arbitrage strategies for making good money in the financial market. They are:-
- Merger arbitrage
- Pure arbitrage
- Convertible arbitrage
- Retail arbitrage
- Statistical arbitrage
- Negative arbitrage
Understanding arbitrage
Arbitrage precisely refers to trading chances in financial markets. Several arbitrage opportunities cover several trading markets. So, traders get to contemplate various alternatives that draw benefits for them. Moreover, the global macro is another strategy associated with arbitrage which is less talked about in the market corridors.
Furthermore, who wouldn’t like to purchase an asset from one market at a lower or cheaper cost and sell it in the other market at a higher price?
What is arbitrage in finance?
Arbitrage trading strategies in the financial market are akin to profitable ventures. However, one should know how and where to use it. An arbitrageur looks for opportunities for the same instruments in different markets. And when he/she gets the chance, an instrument or asset is bought and sold with a price difference. Thus, that accounts for massive profits.
Interestingly, arbitrage is considered an entirely risk-free strategy by some experts. And even if there is some imbalance, that is short-lived. Therefore, traders prefer using it over other strategies in the financial market. Moreover, trading computer algorithms and programs swiftly discovers any burgeoning issue.
So, traders live on profits and the enthusiasm for arbitrage trading strategies is growing at a reasonable pace.
Investment in an arbitrage fund
For exploiting arbitrage, you need to be a trained trader. So, experienced traders have the edge over other traders. That’s how you make money and get in the footholds that can drive profits. You can make gains on price imbalances between futures and stock markets.
Defining in detail types of arbitrage trading strategies
Arbitrage trading strategies can be pure bliss for traders who know how to utilise them with perfection.
Merger Arbitrage
This type of arbitrage strategy is concerned with merging entities. For example, they can be two publicly traded businesses. So, it is generally the business between two parties if we talk about merger arbitrage. It is mostly between the target and the acquiring firm. Thus, one is the taker, while the other is the provider.
However, if the targeted company is an entity that is publicly traded, then the company which is acquiring has to buy the outstanding shares of the particular company. Mostly, It depends on the premium or amount of the trading stock at the moment of acquisition or announcement. It can lead to profit-booking for shareholders.
Once the deal comes into the public domain, investors and traders try to profit from the purchase of the deal. Thus, the company’s shares get driven to the announced deal price. Hence, it is a nuanced process that requires precision from both buyers and sellers.
Meanwhile, the price of the target company seldom matches the deal price. Thus, there are more chances that it trades as some discounted position. The reason behind it is that the deal may fail or fall through during encapsulation.
Additionally, there can be plenty of reasons that can result in the failure of the deal. The changing market situations can lead to suspension or refusal by regulatory bodies. If you are trading in Europe, there can be several regulations and guidelines. Thus, failing to meet them can call for emergency measures.
In the simplest forms, a merger arbitrage revolves around investors and traders buying shares of the company, which is targeted at a discounted rate and making money through it when the deal materialises.
However, as a trader, you can find other forms of merger arbitrage. Meanwhile, if you think the deal won’t make it through, you can short your shares and move on as a trader.
Thus, given the features and utility, it is one of the best arbitrage trading strategies that can help you make bigger profits.
Pure Arbitrage
It is a type of arbitrage in which a trader or an investor consecutively sells and buys a security in various markets to seek the benefits of a price difference. Interestingly, some people use the terms pure arbitrage and arbitrage interchangeably to refer to the same type of trading strategy.
Several investments can be sold and purchased in many markets. For instance, a huge multinational company can list its stocks on myriad stock exchanges globally, like London Stock Exchange (LSE), Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and others.
Meanwhile, whenever an asset gets traded in several markets simultaneously, there may be a possibility that investors can see prices falling. However, that phase is temporary.
But when the price difference starts to exist, you can see pure arbitrage appearing.
Moreover, pricing discrepancies can sometimes appear due to the foreign exchange rates. But that can sprout chances for arbitrage trading.
In a nutshell, the pure arbitrage strategy is one of the finest arbitrage trading strategies in which an investor has the chance to turn inefficiencies into advantages. With the advancements in technology and things getting digitised, things are getting only difficult for users to take advantage of these scenarios.
With technology, the pricing errors can easily be identified and corrected then and there. Thus, the potential of pure arbitrage has become a rarity. But whenever it occurs, astute traders get delivered a humongous amount. So, it is always beneficial irrespective of the time of occurrence.
Convertible Arbitrage
It is a type of arbitrage related to convertible bonds, also called convertible debt or notes. These bonds are like any other bond in their hearts. A bondholder makes interest payments through them. Thus, it is a corporate debt that yields benefits.
The main distinction between a traditional and convertible bond is that in the latter, there is an option to convert it into shares of any underlying company with a later date, which is also known as a discounted rate. Interestingly, companies issue convertible bonds purely for their benefits because they do not have to pay bigger interest payments.
Investors who indulge in convertible arbitrage intend to seek advantage from the difference between the underlying company’s current share price and the bond’s conversion price. Simultaneous positions help achieve it, which are mostly short and long in the underlying shares and the company’s convertible note.
The position taken by an investor and the ratio of sells and buys depends entirely on how fairly priced the bond is for them. When the bond is coming at a cheap price, they try to take a short position on a given stock while a long position on that bond. On the other side, if the investor believes that bond would be rich or overpriced, they might take a decision to go long with stock and short on the bond.
Retail arbitrage
In retail arbitrage, you buy products from your physical retail stores at a reasonable price and sell it at a higher price to someone who needs it by adding your profit to it online. Thus, the act of buying and selling through retail stores is called retail arbitrage.
The products for retail arbitrage are acquired mostly from clearance or sale so that traders can make significant returns after selling them on online trading platforms. So, discounted rates account for bigger benefits for investors.
People can sell items purchased through retail arbitrage on multiple online marketplaces at different prices. People can use marketplaces like eBay, Walmart, Facebook, Let Go, Amazon and several others to sell their goods at a better rate. That’s one of the surest ways of earning money, which culminates into business.
Hence, in a nutshell, retail arbitrage strategy means buying low in the retail market at discounted rates and selling items at huge prices online. The net profit is the difference of capital investment and funds collected on a product after selling and subtracting other expenses.
Negative Arbitrage
It can be termed as an opportunity lost by a trader to make some wealth by putting one of the best arbitrage trading strategies in the financial market. Here, bondholders receive high interest from the bond issuers. Thus, they earn quite less interest on their investments. It happens when the bond issuer keeps their bond proceeds in distinct bank accounts, and the money remains in them for a certain duration until a project gets financed by that.
When the issuer issues new bonds to the bondholder, negative arbitrage is quite common during those times. Thus, when the bond issuer earns less or no interest, that aspect is called negative arbitrage because there was a chance of making good money, which was lost.
Statistical arbitrage
Statistical arbitrage is referred to as a group of different strategies. Some people also call it stat arb. This trading strategy uses econometric and statistical techniques for profiting from the element of market perils reduction. This arbitrage opportunity takes place during long term and short term market conditions.
Conclusion:
Arbitrage trading strategies are there to benefit traders from all walks of life. If you can master any of them using the help of brokers like PrimeFin, Capixal, HFTrading, InvestBy, TradedWell and others, the flow of wealth will start coming at your end. Moreover, there are several arbitrage trading strategies, including pure, merger, negative, retail etc. By learning how to utilise them in various financial markets, traders can benefit in more than one way.
