Recently, I realized something that many people in the DeFi community still haven't paid enough attention to – the MEV bots silently "stealing" our assets every day on Ethereum. It's not a system flaw, but rather how these bots try to profit by manipulating transaction order on the blockchain.

So, what is an MEV bot? How does it operate? Essentially, these bots have the ability to seize profit opportunities by acting before or after significant transactions on the network. They’re not new, but their impact is becoming increasingly evident.

There are quite a few types of MEV bots active in the market. Some bots profit from price differences between various DEXes. Then there are sandwich trading bots – these buy and sell around large transactions to earn profits. Front-running bots prioritize executing transactions before large orders, while back-running bots do the opposite, trading after large orders are executed. Additionally, there are flash loan bots that use flash loans to manipulate the market. In fact, upon closer inspection, there are over 30 different types of MEV bots, each with its own strategy.

But the question is, how do we protect ourselves? The first step is to reduce your slippage tolerance. Lower slippage can decrease the risk of being exploited, although setting it too low might cause your transactions to fail. Second, trade on high-liquidity pools. Since MEV bots rely on arbitrage opportunities, larger liquidity pools can reduce the price impact of your trades, thereby lowering the chances of being targeted. However, this approach might limit your options, especially with new tokens.

There are specific tools to help protect you from MEV bots. Flashbots Protect is one option – you just need to access it, click setup, select "Protected," and add it to your wallet. If that doesn’t work effectively, you can try MEV Blocker by visiting, scrolling down, and adding an MEV-blocking RPC to your wallet.

On Solana, MEV bots are also a threat, but the mitigation methods are slightly different. I recommend lowering your slippage to 1.5%–2% to limit the risk. You should also consider MEV protection tools like Telegram bots such as Trojan or Maestro. They can help you avoid attacks on this network.

Overall, MEV bots are a reality that everyone participating in DeFi needs to understand. Raising awareness and taking protective measures – from adjusting slippage settings to using specialized tools – are the best ways to minimize the risk of asset loss. I will continue monitoring this situation, as it’s a rapidly evolving area within the blockchain ecosystem.