Just now, I was staring at the mempool in a daze again... During congestion, your transaction is really like waiting in line at the cafeteria: first broadcast, first to enter the candidate pool, then miners/packagers see who offers a decent tip and who looks more agreeable, and they pick it up first. If you increase the fee or slow down, you'll see the status stuck at pending, and after a while, it might turn into "replacement underpriced," which basically means you want to cut in line but the money hasn't arrived yet. A couple of days ago, I saw a swap with 0x7c…91, nonce=12 stuck all along, while nonce=13 and 14 behind it were dragging everything down, even canceling costs gas—so frustrating.

Recently, some places have tightened taxes and compliance, and everyone's deposit and withdrawal expectations are tense, making them rush onto the chain, which just causes the network to clog up... My current money-saving trick is still the same: if it's not urgent, don't push during peak hours; if it's really urgent, set the max fee/tip high enough once and for all, and avoid topping up repeatedly. After all, the chain doesn't care about emotions, only the queue and tips.