Recently browsing on-chain records, the more I look, the more I feel: you think you're "seizing opportunities," but in many cases, you're just paying tuition for others. Like a sandwich trade, where you buy and sell with two transactions sandwiching the market, your trade becomes someone else's source of fees; arbitrage is the same, if you're a beat late, all that's left are the residuals. To put it plainly, there aren't no opportunities on the chain, but the opportunities have already been snatched up by faster scripts and people who understand the pathways better.

Right now, Layer 2 is still competing over TPS, fees, and subsidies, making a lot of noise, but for ordinary people, the noise doesn't mean it's easier to get in, especially when liquidity shifts, slippage and front-running follow suit. I'm now more concerned about how the funds move in the seconds before and after a trade, and I don't dare to add positions casually, preferring to miss out rather, since even if I catch up, it might just be helping someone else run through the process... for now, that's how it is.