Late at night, I was flipping through logs and saw that an earlier transaction got stuck in the mempool for almost half an hour before it was finally included. Suddenly it made me feel something. Plainly speaking, when the network is congested, the “pending” you see on-chain is actually quite lively behind the scenes. A gas war is like a small auction—your transaction has to compete with a bunch of people all trying to cut in line. Whoever tips more in gas gets to go first.

Every time I see those orders that time it perfectly and bump the price, I end up sweating for them. One careless moment and you get thrown to the back of the queue by whatever comes right behind you, and then you just watch the gas fee keep climbing higher and higher—like racing to buy limited-edition shoes.

But nowadays some chains’ ordering mechanisms are a bit better—for example, ones that prioritize by time or use MEV protection—so the queuing experience isn’t as miserable. Still, when the market moves big, like these past two days where rate-cut expectations have heated up again, and the US dollar index and risk assets rise and fall together, on-chain activity suddenly picks up. That’s when slippage and gas fees both go through the roof. I usually switch to a low-fee chain first to check route depth; otherwise, even eating a bowl of noodles, I’d hesitate for ages.

In any case, waiting in line is both about luck and strategy. For me, any transaction with gas fees above $5, I just toss it aside and wait for the next round. Who knows whether the next second will suddenly get cheaper. That’s it for now.