Some thoughts on risk & reward

I think I once read somewhere that the financial markets are a great way to discover more about yourself, albeit a very expensive method of doing so. If that’s the case, than crypto twitter and the market as a whole are the best form of psychoanalysis available.

Why do we take risk? No, not the kind where you throw a quarter of your net worth at an OHM fork - the kind that humans have been engaging in since they first showed up on Earth. Just think about all the dangerous things that exist on the planet that we don’t like, then think about the dangerous things that exist that humans continue to participate in. You know, the bad stuff versus the good stuff. Getting bit by a poisonous snake versus taking mushrooms and hoping they’re not gonna slowly kill you over the course of 10 days. That’s some real r/r.

How about Mount Everest? There are so many people that have died trying to climb Mount Everest - it’s the tallest mountain (above sea level!) and it’s seen as a feat of dedication, strength and resilience if you’ve been able to climb it. There are too many bodies to count up there, and it’s next to impossible / a waste of time trying to get them back to the ground. It’s a death sentence.

Is it worth it? Maybe. I’d rather stay at sea level and trade dog coins, but that’s just me. Either way, people like doing it because it makes their brain feel good. Brain feel good equals brain makes good chemicals equals happiness numbers go up. See? We’re all traders at heart.

King of the frogs

How about the Stairway to Heaven in Hawaii? While not as popular as Mount Everest, I guess this place is more dangerous considering it was banned back in 1987. Or is it actually because Mount Everest rakes in money and everyone lets it stick around because rich people will say fuck it and climb the world’s tallest (above sea level) mountain? I dunno, could be psyops.

Great view, terrifying trek

I’m straying off the nonexistent topic here, I kind of forgot this was an MEV article. As I said, humans like to take risk because it activates something in their brain that makes them feel good. Maybe it’s an adrenaline rush, maybe it’s an external source of approval that makes their wires connect in a good way. Don’t know, I’m not a climber and I don’t like heights, need someone to confirm this.

All of us on CT are in someway similar to those who scale vast mountains for the thrill of it, the ones who fight sharks in a cage, the ones that do wheelies on a motorcycle while going 100 mph. We are risk takers, yet we choose to take on this risk by levering up our accounts on Bitfinex or FTX and praying to Arthur Hayes we don’t get liquidated. True, unadulterated degeneracy.

But what about the other degenerates? What about those who operate in the shadows and engage in PvP against other geniuses? The ones whose time frames can’t be viewed on the one minute chart, time frames so small they’re only visible through code or other forms of sorcery. I think we all know who I’m referring to here.

I’m talking about the searchers. The ones who go out of their way to spend 24 hours a day trying to save out on milliseconds of time just so they can send a transaction in before some neckbeard incel who’s worth 9 figures of ETH and hasn’t left his home in 2 years. The searchers who can do things with blockchains that most of us will never understand. The ones coming up with philly cheesesteak sandwich attacks and liquidating undercollateralized loans the moment they see the opportunity.