If you know a piece of information before others do, you have a source of value. But ArbitRage is when you know how fast information flows down a channel, and construct a backchannel that gets it there faster. You don't know something before other people - you just seem to. A ScamPattern. ''I'm more used to...'' (Financial arbitrage): The (near) simultaneous purchase and sale of the same or closely linked securities or commodities so as to make a profit on their (often small) price differences.