I got “sandwiched” for the third time… I spotted an on-chain arbitrage path that looked “so juicy.” My hand was reaching in, and then I looked back—every last bit of slippage had been fed to other people as fees. Put plainly: you think you’re picking up money, but you’re really fighting faster bots for the same meal. If you’re even a half-step behind, you’re the one covering the transaction fees for them.

As for me, I’m not really chasing those pools with obvious, instant windfalls anymore. I’d rather make a bit less. In my scripts, I hardcode gas, slippage, and the order-cancellation conditions; if I’m not sure, I don’t place the trade. Recently, the uproar around NFT royalties has been pretty fierce too—it’s pretty much the same story: creators want to take home more, the market wants more liquidity, and in the end, ordinary people are stuck in the middle. The more people buy and sell, the more friction costs show up… For now, that’s how it goes—today I got “taxed” on-chain again.