I’ve started recording the time my trades spend waiting in the mempool queue—especially when the chain is congested, it’s particularly obvious. You think once you hit “confirm” it’s over, but in reality it’s just like taking a number: the ones who cut the line, the ones who bump the fee, the ones that get included in a block and then kicked out and re-queued—all of it can wear down your mindset. After I record it, I actually stay calmer—I know that slow doesn’t necessarily mean failure. Sometimes it’s simply because I didn’t pay enough, or because I happened to run into everyone rushing to grab the same move.

Lately, people have been shouting about staking unlocks and token unlock calendars, saying it will bring sell pressure. When that kind of emotion builds up, it’s even easier to make mistakes and randomly adjust parameters. In any case, whenever I see congestion now, I pause first. I’d rather have the trade fill later than to “catch up” and end up sending myself into a bigger pit. The worst thing isn’t missing out—it’s being in a rush.