When I first got into the scene, I thought seeing those “front-and-back ambush” trades on-chain was a gift-from-heaven opportunity: just follow the rush and you could grab a bit of profit. Now looking back, to put it plainly, what you’re often seeing isn’t an opportunity—it’s someone else charging you as a fee, and then, as a bonus, making you feel like you’re involved in “discovering the price.” I’ve watched it happen a few times with block-production delays and small reorganizations: once the transaction queue gets messed up, those arbitrage/sandwich trades pile in like sharks smelling blood. No matter how naive your slippage settings are, it’s basically the same as handing someone a knife.

Recently, yet again, someone’s been interpreting ETF fund flows, US stock risk appetite, and the ups and downs of crypto prices as being linked… I’ve seen it too, but sometimes it feels more like they’re just giving emotions a “reasonable explanation.” Those little moves on-chain are actually more honest: who’s grabbing, who’s blocking, and who’s waiting for you to confirm. In any case, before I place an order now, I check the liquidity and whether the mempool is hot first. I’d rather make a little less profit than become someone else’s KPI.