MEV actually works like a hidden tax in crypto trading. Users do not see it, cannot approve it, but it collects itself from your swaps without you knowing. When you make a trade on Ethereum, Solana, or any chain that is popular, a group of bots is always ready to try to gain a small profit using your transaction.
When your swap is about to get put on the chain, it ends up waiting in the mempool. This short waiting period is the “spot” where something special or bad might happen. Bots are scanning this mempool all day and night and will try to take advantage if your swap looks like they can exploit it.
How do bots exploit these trades?
Some common strategies:
• Sandwich attack 🥪 – Bot purchases before you, your trade processes at a more unfavorable price, bot sells after for their gain.
• Copy or Backrun trades 🏃♂️ – Bot makes the same trade and places its transaction just after yours, catching the price difference.
• Reordering 📦 – Validators mix the transaction sequence because bots pay bribes or “tips” to them.
The strangest part is that all these things are permitted. Blockchains work like this. Validators are allowed to pick which transactions and how to arrange them. Bots are simply taking chances.
MEV management on different blockchains
MEV gets managed differently on various blockchains:
• Ethereum brought in Flashbots and SUAVE to try to add more organization.
• Solana introduces Jito, so MEV is part of the earnings of the validator.
• Layer 2s (L2s) say MEV is less, but in reality, it still exists 😅
What should a typical DeFi trader try?
• Use RPCs that are private so the public mempool does not see your swap 🔒
• Keep slippage small so bots will find it harder to manipulate your trade.
• Choose the aggregators with tools against MEV (CowSwap, 1inch Fusion).
• Do not trade tokens with low liquidity because attacks are simpler then.
MEV is always going to be there. You have no choice but to learn to move smart in the crypto world so MEV does not put you at a disadvantage during your swaps.
