MEV and Sandwich Attacks: How Bots Profit From Your Trade

Ever notice you got a worse price than the chart suggested, for no obvious reason? You may have been “sandwiched” by a bot. This is part of MEV — and understanding it helps you trade smarter.

What MEV is

MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) is profit that bots and validators can extract by reordering, inserting or censoring transactions in a block. On public blockchains, your pending trade is visible before it confirms.

How a sandwich attack works

1. A bot spots your large buy in the mempool.
2. It buys just before you (front-run), pushing the price up.
3. Your trade executes at the higher price.
4. The bot sells right after (back-run), pocketing the difference.

How to reduce your exposure

• Keep slippage tolerance low so big sandwiches can't fit.
• Avoid trading thin-liquidity tokens with large orders.
• Consider private transaction / anti-MEV RPC options where available.
• Split very large trades into smaller pieces.

The bigger picture

MEV mostly affects low-liquidity, high-volatility tokens — exactly the kind that also carry scam risk. ChainInspector Suite helps you identify those tokens before you trade.