I'm just someone who earns from splitting snacks, not someone who likes to chase highs normally, but every time the chain gets congested, I’m forced to go to class: Sending a transaction doesn’t mean it’s immediately confirmed; it first queues in the mempool, just like hailing a ride during rush hour, miners/packagers will prioritize transactions with higher "tips" and look more profitable. If you offer a low fee, you can only wait until it expires, gets rejected, or you add more gas and resend to bump it up (sometimes it even gets stuck in a loop, which can be pretty frustrating). So now, when I run a stable pool, I also leave some gas budget; if I really need to move, I don’t skimp on those few bucks.

Recently, I’ve seen news about some places tightening and loosening regulations, and with the changing expectations for deposits and withdrawals, there’s suddenly a collective rebalancing on the chain, making congestion even more frequent… Anyway, I’ve learned: don’t click confirm when emotions are running high; taking it slow isn’t shameful.