I needed $320 so I went to western union and got 66,560 pesos for $314.70 (211.5 pesos/$). Then I went to a cueva and purchased $320 for 66,560 pesos (208 pesos/$). I spent $314.70 to get $320. WHAT
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The thing is, both western union and the cueva presumably made money off of me - so where did the extra $5.30 come from????
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Why did you need to change dollars - pesos - dollars, just to get +6 usd difference?
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I wasn't trying to make $6, I just needed $320 to make a deposit. The only way to get USD in Argentina is to buy it on the black market. So, I sent myself some pesos via western union and used them to buy dollars on the black market. But I should have lost money, not gained it!
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Replying to @deapthoughts @tomigeme
Are there currency controls these days in Argentina? If so, was your initial transaction sending dollars into Argentina? If both are true, then perhaps you should have made more?

May 18, 2022 · 2:11 AM UTC

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Replying to @davidbaron @tomigeme
Eh, at "only" a 1.7% profit it's not really worth my time to do it unless I purchase $10,000 from a cueva, which I think would be very difficult or impossible. But I'm surprised that the cueva would sell me dollars for so little, surely it's worth THEIR time to do this arb?
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Was suggesting that maybe your profit should have been >1.7%
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