The act of buying and selling goods simultaneously in different markets to gain an immediate profit. Impressive, but tricky.The simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices. Arbitrage is when an asset (stocks, currencies, etc.) is bought in one market and sold in another for a higher price. Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same asset in different markets in order to profit from a difference in its price. Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to take advantage of a difference in price. An arbitrage is a transaction that involves no negative cash flow at any probabilistic or temporal state and a positive cash flow in at least one state.