"This bot prints $30000/day" 🤡

Let me tell you what actually happens when you clone that GitHub repo with 47 stars.
THE BAIT
Every day — same pattern. PnL screenshot (cherry-picked). "Open source, link in bio." 500 replies asking "how."
These people aren't traders. They're follower farmers. The bot doesn't print. YOU are the product.
FEES
"Just buy both sides, guaranteed profit!"
Cool. Now add:
• 1-2% taker fees
• Failed orders still cost gas
• Position limits that kill your "edge"
That 3% "guaranteed arb" becomes -1.5% after fees.
MAKER vs TAKER is not a footnote. It's the entire game.
LATENCY
Your laptop WiFi vs their colocated server.
You see arb → 200ms send → 300ms lands.
They see arb → 5ms execution.
You got filled? Congrats. Wrong side of a stale quote.
REAL COMPLEXITY
"Simple market making" requires:
→ Parse orderbook every second
→ Check pair cost (no edge = skip)
→ Track fill imbalance
→ Detect stale orders (requote)
→ Daily drawdown stops
→ Auto-redeem + recycle capital
Plus rate limits, fallbacks, position reconciliation, wallet management.
Still copy-paste?
DIFFERENT GAMES
Directional ≠ Dual-side ≠ Contrarian ≠ Arbitrage
Each has different infra, capital, skill tree. GitHub repos don't tell you which game. Or that they're playing you.
THE REALITY
I've deployed 7 bots. 3 profitable. 2 break-even. 2 = expensive lessons.
Not "prints $500/day."
More like: "Lost $100, learned MAKER/TAKER, adjusted params, maybe profitable next month."
If that sounds boring — good. Trading is boring.
The exciting screenshots are fake or survivorship bias.