Last night I again got dumb because of myself: seeing a pool price on L2 swing around a lot, I thought, “It’s just a small order,” and went straight in with a market order—turns out I got hit by the full amount of slippage, and the fill price ended up higher than what I saw with my own eyes by a noticeable margin. Plainly speaking, it’s not that the market is terrible; it’s that I didn’t check the order book depth. That pool’s liquidity couldn’t possibly handle the move I made—especially the more I rush, the easier it is to get sent.

After reviewing, it feels like order timing really matters more than direction: don’t stare at the K-line and impulsively hit confirm. First, lower your slippage tolerance a bit, split it into several smaller orders, and wait a few minutes for matching/routing to run—then you’ll feel a lot more solid. The recent testnet incentives and the points system have also affected my mindset quite a bit. Everyone’s guessing whether the mainnet will issue tokens, and I also get tempted to position early… but every time I get tempted, my wallet comes in to teach me a lesson. That’s it for now—I'll make improvements slowly.