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Calcimator

Cross-Chain Arbitrage Calculator

Calculate potential profit from cross-chain arbitrage opportunities after accounting for bridge fees, gas costs, and slippage on both chains.

About this calculator

This calculator estimates the profit from buying a token on one chain and selling it on another after bridging, netting out the real costs that eat into a raw price spread: bridge fees (flat and percentage), gas on both chains, and slippage on both the buy and sell side. Net profit per trip is Gross Proceeds (the tokens bought on the source chain, sold at the destination chain's price) minus Trade Size and Total Costs, and both Buy Price and Sell Price move it in opposite directions -- a higher Buy Price means fewer tokens acquired for the same Trade Size, shrinking Gross Proceeds, while a higher Sell Price directly increases what those tokens are worth once sold. Because Slippage per Trade (%) applies to both the buy and the sell leg, its cost scales with the size of the trade on each side, and because tokens bought scales inversely with Buy Price, the sell-side slippage cost is itself sensitive to Buy Price too -- a subtle interaction that means Buy Price's total effect on Net profit per trip runs through two separate paths, not just the obvious "fewer tokens" one.

Number of round trips has no effect on Net profit per trip at all -- it only scales Total net profit, the aggregate across however many times you execute the same trade, since each round trip is modeled as identical and independent (no compounding, no assumption that repeating the trade changes the available spread). Break-Even Price Difference converts Total costs into the minimum absolute price gap between Buy Price and Sell Price needed just to cover fees, gas, and slippage -- below that gap, the trade loses money even before considering price risk during the bridging delay.

Inputs

%
%

Results

Net profit per trip ($)

$25.78

ROI per trip (%)0.26%
Price spread (%)1.11%
Total costs ($)$85.33
Bridge cost ($)$15.00
Slippage cost ($)$60.33
Total gas cost ($)$10.00
Total net profit ($)$25.78
Break-even spread (%)0.85%
Break-even price diff ($)$15.36
Total Capital Required$10,085.33
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter the Trade Size ($) — the amount you are arbitraging across chains.
  2. Set the Buy Price on the source chain and the Sell Price on the destination chain — the difference is your gross profit.
  3. Enter the Bridge Fee (flat $ + percentage) and Gas Costs on each chain.
  4. Set expected Slippage (%) to account for price impact on each swap.
  5. Review Net Profit, ROI %, and Break-Even Price Difference to assess whether the spread is large enough to be worth executing.

How the result changes with Buy price (source chain)

Buy price (source chain)Net profit per trip ($)
900$10,106.56
1,350$3,386.04
2,700-$3,334.48
4,500-$6,022.69

What each input means

Trade size ($)
Total USD value of the trade on the source chain.
Buy price (source chain)
Token price on the source chain where you buy.
Sell price (dest chain)
Token price on the destination chain where you sell.
Bridge fee (flat $)
Fixed fee charged by the cross-chain bridge.
Bridge fee (%)
Percentage fee charged by the bridge on the transfer amount.
Source chain gas ($)
Gas cost for the swap transaction on the source chain.
Dest chain gas ($)
Gas cost for the swap transaction on the destination chain.
Slippage per trade (%)
Expected price slippage on each swap (buy and sell).
Number of round trips
How many times you plan to execute this arbitrage.

What each result means

Net profit per trip ($)
Profit after all fees, gas, and slippage for one round trip.
ROI per trip (%)
Return on investment as a percentage of trade size.
Price spread (%)
Percentage difference between buy and sell prices.
Total costs ($)
Sum of bridge fees, slippage, and gas costs.
Bridge cost ($)
Total bridge fee (flat + percentage).
Slippage cost ($)
Combined slippage on buy and sell sides.
Total gas cost ($)
Gas costs across both chains.
Total net profit ($)
Aggregate profit across all round trips.
Break-even spread (%)
Minimum price spread needed to cover all costs.
Break-even price diff ($)
Minimum absolute price difference to break even.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    9 parameters
    Trade size ($) = 10000, Buy price (source chain) = 1800, Sell price (dest chain) = 1820, Bridge fee (flat $) = 5, Bridge fee (%) = 0.1, Source chain gas ($) = 8, Dest chain gas ($) = 2, Slippage per trade (%) = 0.3, Number of round trips = 1 = 9 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Net profit per trip
    Net profit per trip = grossProceeds - tradeSize - totalCosts
    25.78 = $25.78
  3. Calculate ROI per trip
    ROI per trip = (netProfitPerTrip / tradeSize) * 100
    0.2578 = 0.2578%
  4. Calculate Price spread
    Price spread = ((sellPrice - buyPrice) / buyPrice) * 100
    1.1111 = 1.1111%

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Number of round trips change Net profit per trip?

No -- Net profit per trip is calculated for a single execution of the trade and is completely unaffected by Number of round trips. That input only multiplies Net profit per trip into Total net profit, the aggregate figure across however many times you plan to repeat the exact same trade; it assumes every round trip captures the identical spread and cost structure, with no compounding or diminishing opportunity.

Why do Buy Price and Sell Price move Net profit per trip in opposite directions?

Buy Price and Sell Price determine both how many tokens your Trade Size acquires (Trade Size divided by Buy Price) and what those tokens are worth when sold (multiplied by Sell Price). A higher Buy Price means fewer tokens for the same dollar amount, which shrinks Gross Proceeds -- a higher Sell Price means those same tokens are worth more when sold. The two inputs pull the arbitrage spread in opposite directions by design, since the spread itself is Sell Price minus Buy Price.

Why does Slippage per Trade (%) affect costs on both the buy and sell side?

This calculator applies Slippage per Trade (%) once to the buy transaction (as a percentage of Trade Size) and once to the sell transaction (as a percentage of the tokens' value at Sell Price), since a real cross-chain arbitrage trade involves two separate swaps -- one on each chain -- and each one can independently experience price impact. Total Slippage sums both legs together.

What does Break-Even Price Difference actually tell me?

It's the minimum absolute dollar gap between Buy Price and Sell Price needed to cover Total Costs (bridge fees, gas, and slippage combined) before any profit is made. If the actual difference between your Buy Price and Sell Price is smaller than Break-Even Price Difference, the trade loses money once all costs are accounted for -- and since prices can move during the time it takes to bridge between chains, a comfortable margin above break-even is safer than trading right at it.

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