If yes, what are the drawbacks?
Are you accepting bank transfer as payment? Some traders have had their bank account frozen when doing that until they provide details as to the nature of those funds received. And from there, depending on your response, the bank may take additional measures.
So this is not without financial risk, at a minimum. The higher your volume (size per trade and/or number of trades), the greater the likelihood you receive closer scrutiny. Many small-ish traders (e.g., just a few trades per month) do this type of trading and their bank doesn't hassle them, though even that can vary from one bank to the next as well.
Additionally, a centralized exchange may notice your active trading patterns and may do the same -- freeze your account and insist that you provide further information about a trade (or trades).
These drawbacks help to explain why a 5 to 10% premium when selling is in the normal range.
Now, some arbitrage traders avoid the centralized exchanges by trading both sides. They buy at a price a little below spot, and then sell at a premium. There are sellers who do not wish to use a centralized exchange and thus are willing to sell at a discount through Bisq (and/or other KYC-Free P2P trading platforms).
And finally, there are regulations in various jurisdictions that may apply when trading person-to-person. There have been a few traders that did stuff and probably knew better but did certain things anyway (e.g., structured large trades so each transactoin was smaller than some threshold that required reporting) such that they became a target and then got in trouble with the law.
Additionally, a centralized exchange may notice your active trading patterns and may do the same -- freeze your account and insist that you provide further information about a trade (or trades).
You mean they do chain analysis even after I withdrew my coins? Sounds naive to not assume that, but I didn't think they would care what I do after I did my business with them.
They buy at a price a little below spot, and then sell at a premium.
How is that possible? Where can you buy below spot?
reply
You mean they do chain analysis even after I withdrew my coins?
Yes. Some exchanges do that.
CoinJoining before depositing / after withdrawing? Both of these have caused issues - don’t assume that performing a CoinJoin after withdrawing will be permitted.
How is that possible? Where can you buy below spot?
On a P2P trading platform, I as the seller can set whatever price I want. Let's say I normally find it can take up to a day to find a buyer even if I have my offer priced at spot price. So if I want to do a quick trade, I can set the price below spot (e.g., -3% of spot price). There is a greater chance that the discount will motivate a buyer to take my offer.
Just looking at Yadio Market, I see at least a couple dozen offers on P2P trading platforms where bitcoin can be bought, paying with a USD payment method, at a price below spot:
reply