Just after midnight, I went through a few more lines of on-chain Uniswap V3 data. Honestly, the more I look, the more I feel that market making is definitely not a “lie down and earn” strategy. A lot of people see the annualized numbers from liquidity mining and rush in. Then when the AMM curve moves—especially in highly volatile market conditions—impermanent loss wipes out most of the yield you mined. It’s not just wasted effort; your principal can also get trapped.

Over the past few days, I’ve been seeing news discussing how ETF fund flows and US stock risk appetite affect crypto’s up and down moves. Everyone has all kinds of explanations. But when I watch the in and out records of those market-making accounts on-chain, it feels like no matter how grand the narrative is, when it finally lands in your wallet, you still have to figure out clearly whether your liquidity can actually withstand these twists and turns. Anyway, whenever I see a market-making strategy that comes in right away shouting “I’ll help you make money,” my first reaction is to check the trade history. More often than not, the truth is hidden in those unremarkable swap data.

Market making isn’t just depositing money. It’s a bet against market volatility. Put simply, it comes down to how well you judge the price range—get it right and you earn, get it wrong and you become a stepping stone for arbitrageurs. I’d rather spend more time looking at the historical depth distribution of the trading pair than trust someone else’s big promises.