I just set a gas limit reminder for myself. In the past, I always thought that “cutting in line” was something only the big players would do, and it had nothing to do with my little amount of funds. As it turned out, last Monday, an MEV bot front-ran my swap and it slipped by 3 percentage points. That’s when I realized that when it comes to on-chain queueing, small retail traders are really easy to be treated like easy targets. 😅

When I set up the reminder, my mind was actually pretty complicated—on the one hand, it felt like I finally had something to hold on to; on the other, it felt a bit stifling: why should we small “crop farmers” have to worry about this extra? But forget it. The rules on-chain are what they are. Either learn to coexist with the machines, or accept it. Recently, after looking through all the discussions around RWA and US Treasury yields, it feels like the ways to play on-chain products are getting more and more complex, but fairness in ordering doesn’t seem to matter to anyone. In any case, I think setting up a line of defense first can’t hurt.

Oh, and after the limit was set, when the first transaction succeeded, that “I’m safe now” illusion felt pretty good—though it might just be psychological comfort. 🌱