"Withdrawals temporarily suspended." Your money is stuck. This is entirely preventable.
TL;DR: Check D/W status FIRST — before spread, before slippage, before anything. A 50% spread means nothing if you can't move tokens. Check which networks are open, fees, and confirmation times on both sides.
Not the second thing. Not "I'll check it after I see the spread." The FIRST thing.
A 50% spread means literally nothing if you can't move tokens between exchanges. Zero. You cannot profit from a price difference you can't exploit.
The moment you buy a token without confirming you can withdraw it, you're no longer arbitraging — you're speculating on a volatile asset.
Exchanges suspend deposits and withdrawals for specific tokens regularly. The reasons vary.
The exchange is upgrading their hot wallet or node infrastructure. Usually hours, sometimes days.
When a blockchain is overloaded, exchanges suspend withdrawals. Ethereum during gas spikes, Solana during outages.
Unusual activity on a token's contract or suspected exploit. Can happen suddenly and without warning.
Smart contract upgrades, token migrations, or detected vulnerabilities can trigger suspension on all exchanges simultaneously.
Some smaller exchanges have been suspected of keeping D/W closed to prevent arbitrageurs from equalizing prices — profiting from the artificial price difference through trading fees.
You see a 15% spread. Excitement takes over. You buy $500. Then you go to the withdrawal page: "Suspended — under maintenance." No ETA.
Now you're holding a volatile altcoin you didn't want. If the price drops 10% while you wait — you've lost $50, and you still haven't done the arbitrage.
Token X available on ERC20, BSC, and SOL. Withdrawals open on ERC20 — but gas costs $15. BSC closed. SOL closed.
Spread 3% on $500 = $15 gross profit. ERC20 fee: $15. Net profit: $0.
Withdrawals from Exchange A are fast. But deposits on Exchange B take 50 confirmations — 2 hours for that blockchain.
You've already bought the token. Now you're waiting for the deposit to confirm while the price moves against you.
Some exchanges show D/W as "open" but have hidden limits: max withdrawal per transaction, daily caps, manual review for large amounts.
Plan to arb $5K but max withdrawal is $1K per transaction with 10-min cooldown. 5 transactions take 40+ min. Spread gone by transaction 3.
D/W suspended for days. Big price difference built up. The moment it reopens, hundreds of arbitrageurs rush simultaneously.
If you're not first, you're late. The spread closes in seconds.
Most tokens exist on multiple blockchains. An ETH token can be transferred on ERC20, Arbitrum, Optimism, BSC, and others. Each network has different costs and speeds.
Is withdrawal open on the buy exchange? For which networks?
Is deposit open on the sell exchange? For which networks?
Do they share at least one open network?
What's the withdrawal fee on that network?
How many confirmations does the sell exchange require? How long will that take?
Is the spread large enough to survive the transfer time?
Have you subtracted the withdrawal fee from your net profit calculation?
If any answer is unfavorable — skip the trade. There are always more opportunities. The 30 seconds you spend checking D/W status can save you from the worst trade of your life.
D/W status matters less since you don't need to transfer tokens — you open positions on each exchange independently. But you still need funds deposited on both exchanges beforehand.
VoltArb calculates actual net profit using order book depth, slippage, fees, and funding rates.
30 exchanges · 5 arbitrage types · Telegram alerts · Fair price screener · Funding scanner · Real-time Tracker
VoltArb is a free real-time crypto arbitrage scanner monitoring 30 exchanges — with real profit calculations, not just spreads. Funding rate arbitrage · Fair Price screener · Pro from $49.