Last night I stared at the charts until my eyes went dry. That brief moment on-chain when it “looks like there’s arbitrage room”—my first reaction isn’t to rush in now; I ask instead: is this someone else’s sandwich? If I go in, I’m just there to round up/“make up” enough fees for someone else. To put it plainly, a lot of opportunities are already a half-beat late once you see them—especially when liquidity is thin. One little twitch in slippage, and you end up working for a bot.

Recently, someone else has been bundling ETF fund flows, US stock risk appetite, and crypto’s ups and downs into an interpretation. The more I hear it, the more anxious I get… Later, I lowered my expectations: if I can only bite off a small slice, then I’ll take it and leave; if I can’t, then forget it. If the funding rate looks off, I reduce my position. If I find the trades start to look “weird,” I pull out. I’d rather make a little less than force myself to hold on. After all, the rule for a night-shift security guard is: stay alive and get off work.