I started recording the funding rate and open interest changes at the exact moments of each entry and exit, and I found that many of my “intuition trades” are actually just being driven by emotions—once I record them, I don’t get so swept up anymore.

As for block builders, bundles, and all that—honestly, how much do retail traders really need to know? I don’t think you need to memorize concepts. Remember two things: first, the trades you send may not be packaged in the order you want; occasional slippage or “weird” execution prices aren’t because your phone’s lagging. Second, the more crowded it gets (with OI peaking and funding rates also drifting), the higher the probability of getting squeezed or having someone cut the line—don’t put too much faith in blasting in with a market order.

Recently, I’ve also been looking at the whole setup of re-staking and shared security, where the yield stacking gets criticized as “pyramid schemes.” I can understand it… the returns look very tempting, but that underlying congestion and early-starting problem hasn’t gone away. The higher the stack, the easier it is to crash. Anyway, what I care about more now is whether the sentiment indicators are starting to go dead and whether trades are starting to feel dull—live through it first, then we’ll talk.