Recently, I saw someone excitedly say "There's arbitrage opportunity again" on the blockchain, and my first reaction was: Are you seeing an opportunity, or are you just paying others' fees?

Stuff like sandwich attacks, honestly, is just you thinking you're bottom-fishing or chasing a rally, when in fact you're providing liquidity for faster traders.
Slippage + gas fees stack up, and in the end, all that's left is a "voucher for experience."

I'm now more inclined to see it as a volatility tax: the more urgent, the larger the position, the more you love market orders, the easier you are to get squeezed.
The so-called "smart money" is often just "faster money."

Recently, the practice of staking, sharing security, and stacking yields—often called "nested" strategies—I've also understood quite well.
The yields look layered, but the risks are layered too.
In the end, who pays for these hidden costs isn't necessarily the protocol.

Anyway, I prefer to rely on habits, not talent: take it slow, split orders, use limit orders when possible, and don't treat every price gap as a falling pie.
Running fast will lead to falls, I have to remind myself of this every day.