So I see different rates in different websites. What prevents me from buying in one and selling in another? Do these automatically account for the exchange rates? from a quick look it doesn't seem so - I am wondering if short term trading is a bad idea. (With tiny amount of money of course).
Nothing prevents you from moving bitcoins between exchanges, but moving dollars between exchanges turns out to be much more difficult than you might expect. Banks and governments introduce all sorts of roadblocks, charges, and delays. In order to arbitrage effectively, you need to be able to transfer dollars as well as bitcoins.
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So I see different rates in different websites. What prevents me from buying in one and selling in another? Do these automatically account for the exchange rates? from a quick look it doesn't seem so - I am wondering if short term trading is a bad idea. (With tiny amount of money of course).
Nothing prevents you from moving bitcoins between exchanges, but moving dollars between exchanges turns out to be much more difficult than you might expect. Banks and governments introduce all sorts of roadblocks, charges, and delays. In order to arbitrage effectively, you need to be able to transfer dollars as well as bitcoins.
You can't withdraw your money before months on some platform, and that's why the exchange rate is higher. http://www.coindesk.com/withdrawals-from-mt-gox-growing-pain...