When the mempool is congested, sending a transaction is like going to a hospital for registration: you queue up first, and there are even people who cut in line (by paying extra). You think clicking “confirm” is the end of it, but actually you’re waiting for miners/ordering services to pick you; if your gas is too low, it just keeps getting stuck. After a while, it may even be “replaced” by your own “fee bump,” or it may simply expire. What’s even more annoying is that during this time the price changes—once slippage is triggered, the DEX rolls back immediately, and the fee is still charged…

Basically, you’re betting on whether the “next block” will be willing to include you. Lately, the L2 argument has been more about TPS/fees, but I’m more concerned about whether the ordering rules during congestion are transparent, and how reordering/delays are handled. Otherwise, if the oracle updates are a bit late, all the subsequent liquidations/arbitrage will go off the rails.

Anyway, during peak times I’d rather do less. If I really need to act, I watch pending transactions—don’t pretend to be asleep.