Recently, I saw someone focusing on large on-chain transfers and abnormal activity in exchange hot and cold wallets, and started speculating "smart money is moving." I find that a bit exhausting... Let's not rush to idolize it; often it's just moving assets, doing risk control, or routing through different pools.

Terms like data availability / ordering / finality sound intimidating, but really, just follow one thread: can your transaction be "seen" by others, what order is it inserted into blocks, and ultimately whether it is considered final. To put it simply, if data isn't fully public = you think the transaction is confirmed but others can't see the details; unstable ordering = your slippage and front-running risk skyrockets; prolonged finality = you wait for confirmations until you're emotionally exhausted, and it might still roll back.

Anyway, when I look at "smart money" now, I first check the confirmation pace and ordering rules of the chain, then see if my transaction needs to be split into smaller parts, set a limit order, or just switch to a more straightforward routing... MEV tricks can take you down in just a second of hesitation.