Lately, I've been watching on-chain congestion, and sandwich attacks and arbitrage are starting to cluster again. My first reaction isn't actually "opportunity is here," but rather "am I just paying fees for others." That small price difference you see—basically, someone queued up in front, someone pushed you from behind—once slippage opens up, it all goes to the faster machine.

I used to get itchy to chase some seemingly clean paths, but then I realized that many "steady arbitrages" actually rely on others not having had time to wait for confirmation: after a cross-chain bridge gets hacked and stolen, everyone hesitates, liquidity thins out; then sometimes oracles report strange prices, and the group is all shouting to wait for confirmation. During those few minutes of waiting, the happiest aren't retail investors—they're the ones who can trap your transaction in the middle. Anyway, I'm now more concerned about the transaction path and the probability of being caught in a sandwich, preferring to move less rather than treat myself as fuel for others.