Lately, a lot of people start getting anxious the moment they hear about block builders and bundles: am I getting “sandwiched” again? To put it plainly, retail investors really don’t need to force themselves into becoming researchers—do you just need to know where to go, that’s enough, right? I think there are three points: first, don’t put blind faith in “if I click, it will execute at the price I see.” Routing can detour, pools can drift—the more you rush, the easier it is to end up getting hit with some ridiculous slippage; second, for large orders, split them up / use limit orders. Don’t shove everything into a pool with thin liquidity all at once—there’s less space for others to bundle you; third, if you notice the executed trade is clearly off, pause first. Switch routes or switch timing—don’t try to muscle through it.

Recently, people keep using explanations like ETF fund flows and US stock risk appetite to account for crypto’s rise and fall, and I find it a bit annoying… No matter how grand the macro narrative is, your bad execution on this one trade won’t suddenly become any kinder because of it. Anyway, I’ve now adjusted my goal: make “try to avoid getting into bad executions” a daily task—and actually stick with it longer.