Recently, I’ve seen people watching large on-chain transfers and hot/cold wallets on exchanges, shouting "Smart money is coming" whenever there's activity.

But honestly, I care more about another layer: even if you’re looking in the right direction, your swap might not be processed in the order you think.
MEV, in simple terms, is when someone can "cut in line" or even sandwich you to earn a small arbitrage, mostly affecting ordinary traders who are eager to execute and have large slippage.
The end result feels like "I buy at a higher price and sell at an even lower price."
Fairness is pretty helpless here; the rules are written on the chain, but there’s plenty of room for reordering.
Anyway, I’d rather slow down now, tighten my slippage, and stop competing with those lively, smart money screenshots.