In: Finance
Doug Bernard specializes in cross-rate arbitrage. He notices the following quotes:
Swiss franc/U.S. dollar = 1.5971 CHF/USD
Australian dollar/U.S. dollar = 1.8215 AUD/USD
Australian dollar/Swiss franc = 1.1300 AUD/CHF
Does Doug Bernard have an arbitrage opportunity based on these quotes? If there is an arbitrage opportunity, what steps would he take to make an arbitrage profit, and how much would he profit if he has $1,000,000 USD?
Solution :
Yes. Doug Bernard does have an arbitrage opportunity based on
the given quotes :
As per the information given in the question we have:
Availability of USD 1,000,000
Exchange rates
Swiss Franc / U.S. Dollar = 1.5971 CHF / USD
Australian Dollar / U.S. Dollar = 1.8215 AUD / USD
Australian Dollar / Swiss Franc = 1.1300 AUD / CHF
Steps to make arbitrage profit :
Step 1: Sell USD to buy AUD
We have USD 1,000,000 to look for an arbitrage opportunity
We know that 1 USD = 1.8215 AUD
Thus on sale /exchange of USD for AUD we will have
= USD 1,000,000 * 1.8215 = 1,821,500 AUD
Step 2: Sell AUD to buy CHF
We now have 1,821,500 AUD
We know that 1 CHF = 1.1300 AUD
Thus on sale or exchange of AUD for CHF we will have
= 1,821,500 AUD / 1.1300 AUD = CHF 1,611,947
Step 3 : Sell CHF to buy USD
We now have CHF 1,611,947
We know that 1 USD = CHF 1.5971
Thus on sale or exchange of CHF for USD we will have
= CHF 1,611,947 / CHF 1.5971 = USD 1,009,296
Thus the profit on the arbitrage opportunity = USD 1009296 – USD 1000000
= USD 9,296