Why prices diverge across exchanges
Crypto perpetuals are fragmented. Each venue has its own order book, its own liquidation engine, and its own flow. That means the "same" market can trade at different prices for short windows.
Those windows are where lead-lag patterns and convergence trades come from.
The core idea
Multi-venue trading is not "trade every exchange". It is: use every exchange as information, then execute where you get the best fill.
Execution is alpha (slippage, spread, and latency)
- Spread: wide spreads tax market orders.
- Depth: thin books amplify slippage. Use depth context before sizing up.
- Latency: fast moves punish slow routing. Use the leader venue to anticipate the catch-up.
A clean workflow
- Identify the leader venue for your symbol.
- Confirm with order flow: sweeps/absorptions.
- Check depth on the venue you plan to execute on.
- Trade the convergence (or fade the failed follow-through).
Backtest your mental model (without overfitting)
Most strategy mistakes come from mixing concepts. Keep it simple:
- Lead-lag = who moves first.
- Signals = why the move is happening (sweep vs absorption).
- Depth = where the move stalls or accelerates.
Start here: Multi-Venue Analysis (Learn).