Cash and Carry Arbitrage
Buy spot, short the quarterly delivery futures contract, and lock in the contango. The price difference between spot and the quarterly contract (basis) is your carry return, annualized to compare contracts with different expiry dates.
Cash-and-carry is the classic market-neutral strategy: buy the asset on spot, short the same asset in the delivery futures contract, and earn the price gap (contango) as the futures price converges to spot at delivery.
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Cash-and-carry opportunities
194 Market opportunities Loaded from scanner
Asset↕ | Exchange↕ | Spot Price↕ | Delivery Price↕ | Delivery Date↕ | Basis↕ | Annualized↕ | Actions↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
META | okx Check Price | $6.35 | $729.50 | 2031-06-13T08:00:00.000Z | 11388.0429% | 24.27 | |
UP | okx Check Price | $0.06969 | $0.1986 | 2031-09-19T08:00:00.000Z | 184.9763% | 0.37 | |
ETH | okx Check Price | $2,728.57 | $2,765.65 | 2026-11-27T08:00:00.000Z | 1.3590% | 0.09 | |
ETH | okx Check Price | $2,728.57 | $2,745.23 | 2026-10-30T08:00:00.000Z | 0.6106% | 0.09 | |
SOL | okx Check Price | $121.76 | $124.85 | 2027-03-26T08:00:00.000Z | 2.5344% | 0.05 | |
BTC | okx Check Price | $86,453.13 | $89,655.50 | 2027-06-25T08:00:00.000Z | 3.7042% | 0.05 | |
BTC | okx Check Price | $86,453.13 | $90,695.90 | 2027-09-24T08:00:00.000Z | 4.9076% | 0.05 | |
BTC | okx Check Price | $86,453.13 | $88,508.60 | 2027-03-26T08:00:00.000Z | 2.3776% | 0.05 | |
BTC | binance Check Price | $86,453.13 | $88,500.00 | 2027-03-26T08:00:00.000Z | 2.3676% | 0.05 | |
BTC | binance Check Price | $86,453.13 | $87,378.10 | 2026-12-25T08:00:00.000Z | 1.0699% | 0.05 | |
BNB | binance Check Price | $796.19 | $804.52 | 2026-12-25T08:00:00.000Z | 1.0462% | 0.05 | |
ETH | okx Check Price | $2,728.57 | $2,788.62 | 2027-03-26T08:00:00.000Z | 2.2008% | 0.05 | |
BTC | okx Check Price | $86,453.13 | $88,270.60 | 2027-03-26T08:00:00.000Z | 2.1023% | 0.04 | |
ETH | okx Check Price | $2,728.57 | $2,846.21 | 2027-09-24T08:00:00.000Z | 4.3114% | 0.04 | |
SOL | okx Check Price | $121.76 | $122.12 | 2026-10-30T08:00:00.000Z | 0.2924% | 0.04 |
How cash-and-carry works
Buy the asset on spot, short the quarterly futures contract, hold until delivery. The futures price typically trades above spot (contango); at delivery the prices converge and you keep the difference as profit.
What to watch
Watch funding costs, exchange fees, and liquidation risk on the short leg. Annualized basis lets you compare contracts with different expiry dates on a like-for-like basis.