These days, I see a bunch of people watching large on-chain transfers and hot/cold wallets on exchanges, shouting "Smart money is coming" whenever there's movement. I almost got itchy myself. Later, I thought about it and realized that many times the "opportunities" you see are basically transaction fees arranged for you by others: sandwiches, arbitrage bots lining up for your confirmation.

I thought that by placing a limit order and reducing slippage, I could avoid it, but I still got squeezed clearly... That moment really broke my composure. Now, when reviewing, I mainly look at the transaction paths and pool depth. I prefer not to touch low-liquidity pools; I’d rather miss out than use them as fuel. TVL drops break my heart, but for protocols with real user retention, I can accept being exploited occasionally—at least it's not just air. Anyway, I act pessimistic in words, but in practice, I still pick and add a little bit here and there.