Measuring CEX-DEX Extracted Value and Searcher Profitability How much DEX LPs lose money in arbitrage, and why is this happening and who is doing this? A 2015 paper from @Cornell "We analyzed the profitability of searchers. Figure 8a shows that neutral searchers generally achieve higher profitability than most exclusive searchers, with median profit margins of 30%–70% compared to 20%–40% for exclusive searchers. Neutral searchers’ median PnL per trade often exceeds $10, while that of most exclusive searchers rarely surpasses $5. Figure 8b confirms this trend: 80% of trades by exclusive and integrated searchers yield less than $10, whereas nearly half of neutral searchers’ trades exceed this threshold." "Despite the overall increase in CEX-DEX arbitrage activity, the diversity of successful searchers has decreased over time. Before October 2024, 23 labeled searchers accounted for nearly 99% of the total CEX-DEX arbitrage volume on-chain. After October 2024, only 14 labeled searchers remained active and successful, further declining to 11 by Q1 2025, with three leading searchers capturing 90% of the total volume (see Appendix D, Figure 14). Wintermute and SCP have consistently held dominant positions throughout this period. Notably, Kayle, initially a minor searcher, began gaining significant influence around June 2024 and emerged as a leading searcher."