Lately I've seen people say "Just throw it into the pool and earn fees passively"... and I can't help but roll my eyes. The AMM curve is basically just helping you automatically buy and sell; as the price moves, your asset ratio is passively adjusted. Impermanent loss isn't some mystical concept—it's real, it's just that you think you're holding A+B, but it turns into holding more of the one that drops in value. Whether fees can make up for it depends entirely on volatility and trading volume—it's not some fairy tale.

The collapse of those blockchain games is pretty similar: when inflation kicks in, studios jump in, and the coin price spirals out of control, market makers seem more like they're catching flying knives. Recently, my practice has been to not equate "participation" with "I want to win." First, ask yourself whether you're betting on volatility or on traffic; if you can't figure it out, do less—just start there.