What Is Arbitrage?

Patrick Curtis

Reviewed by

Patrick Curtis WSO Editorial Board

Expertise:Investment Banking | Private Equity

Arbitrageis the technique of investing in two assets (going long one and short the other) and assuming that the prices will converge over time. This is made possible as a result of market inefficiencies, although as technology advances more and more these inefficiencies are likely to be smaller and to be eliminated faster. Truearbitrageis meant to be risk free profit but in reality it very very rarely is. Due to the fact that any profit fromarbitrageis likely to be small, traders and investors will put in vast amounts of money to magnify returns. The most famous example ofarbitrageis that ofLong Term Capital Management, the quant-based hedge fund which started off selling new US government bonds and buying older ones, and taking the profits as the prices converged. Hedge funds which operate an event driven strategy will often work on the basis of mergerarbitrage, i.e. that the stock prices of companies will converge if they complete a merger deal.

To learn more about this concept and become amaster atLBOmodeling, you should check outourLBOModeling Course.Learn more here.

Module 1: Introduction

Module 2:LBOThe Big Picture

Module 3: Valuation and Transaction Assumptions

Module 4: Sources and Uses: The Theory

Module 5: Sources and Uses: Application to Nike Case

Module 6: P&L Projections &LBOAdjustments

Module 7:债务计划

Module 8: Balance Sheet and Adjustments

Module 9: Taxes

Module 10: Exit, Returns, &SensitivityAnalysis

Bonus Module A) Purchase Price Accounting

Bonus Module B) Dividend Recap

Bonus Module C) Add-on Acquisition Build

Learn More Here

Related Terms

Return to the Finance Dictionary

Read Forum Topics About Arbitrage

Patrick Curtisis a member ofWSO Editorial Boardwhich helps ensure the accuracy of content across top articles on Wall Street Oasis. He has experience in investment banking at Rothschild and private equity at Tailwind Capital along with an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He is also the founder and current CEO of Wall Street Oasis This content was originally created by memberWallStreetOasis.comand has evolved with the help of our mentors.