If you have the ability to play market maker on both the exchanges you can play that game. Its hugely profitable; but not if you have to bite the bullet on either one of the exchanges. And i dont know much about it but there isnt any other liquid market where you can offset the risk either. So its pretty risky either ways (even if you can act as MM on both the exchanges). -gariki
In my experience the spread pretty acurately reflects the risk that the lower priced "exchange" goes under while holding your money and you never get any of it or recover pennies on the dollar years later. It's the equivalent of buying junk bonds, nothing wrong with it but risk adjusted returns are no higher on either strategy.
the most well-known move is to buy on a cheap exchange preferably with ACH no or low fee bank funding and sell on Circle (I don't think this will work with Coinbase)... 1% plus returns per week up to $3000 which is the max Circle allows for individuals. keep in mind that the price can move drastically from the time you buy to the time your coins arrive at Circle, so make other plans of course. as a random point in time: the current spread between buying on OKCoin and selling on Circle is: $662.43/$671.53.
someone once told me the arbs in BTC are a "funding problem and not a coding problem." I agree totally.
1. In two years, the same differences in prices on exchanges will probably still exist. 2. I'm not aware of Shanghai nightclubs. sorry.