Lately, I've been asked how much retail investors need to understand about block builders and bundling... I feel that understanding why you inexplicably get slippage/slippage/being front-run and how to avoid getting hit is enough. To put it simply, the transactions you send may not go directly into a block; they might first be bundled into a chunk for the builder to pick, where someone might cut in line, front-run you, or conveniently optimize your path (which might not be good for you). I personally remember three things: try to use private routing/protection modes (to avoid some front-running), don't aggressively trade in low-liquidity pools, and don't set slippage so high that it feels like you have no brakes. The deeper stuff—how builders bid, how MEV auctions work... just listen, don’t turn yourself into a researcher.

By the way, the recent debate over NFT royalties is quite similar: creators want to get more, but the secondary market fears liquidity being "siphoned," and in the end, it all comes down to who can decide how trades are bundled/executed.

My colleague looked at my research and only said: "Aren't you just trying to find ways to pay less 'invisible fees'?"... Fine, that one sentence summed it up for me.