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Glossary Term

Sandwich Attack

A form of MEV where a bot trades just before and after your swap, pocketing the price move it forces you into.

A sandwich attack is a specific MEV exploit: seeing your pending swap in the mempool, a bot buys the same asset just before you (pushing the price up), lets your trade execute at that worse price, then sells immediately after — capturing the difference. Your trade is the filling between the bot’s two slices.

It’s effectively a tax on careless DEX trades. Your defense is direct: set a tight slippage tolerance so a sandwich can’t move your price enough to be profitable, and use MEV-protected transaction relays where available. Generous slippage settings — the default trap for newcomers — are an open invitation to be sandwiched.

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