The past couple of days, the blockchain has been a bit congested, and the feeling of the mempool lining up is especially obvious: when you send out a transaction, it's really just "getting in line first." Miners/packagers will prioritize those who pay higher fees, and the rest just hang around, possibly getting stuck in the middle after a few minutes and moving slowly, or maybe never moving at all, eventually expiring or being replaced by you. The most annoying part is thinking you've completed the transaction, but in reality, you're still in the queue. When prices fluctuate, it can easily turn into chasing the high or missing out.

What I fear most isn't slowness, but chaos: slow can still be waited out, but chaos means that the same operation has already ended in your mind, but on-chain it hasn't settled yet, and you don't even know where to start with the rescue.

Recently, everyone has been talking about staking unlocks, token unlock schedules, and the selling pressure anxiety. I actually pay more attention to the congestion and fee rate fluctuations during those days... When panic truly sets in, the order in the queue often has a bigger impact on the outcome than you think. For now, if you can use limit orders, don't force it.