firefly_sol

How to build a $1.4M MEV Arbitrage Bot on Solana

As many of you know, I am a top MEV searcher on the Solana blockchain. Because I am active on twitter.com in discussing the most optimal techniques for performing MEV arbitrage, I have been frequently getting DMs asking me what my workflow is in developing new alpha. So, I decided to make this article sharing it.

The most important part of MEV is being in the highest mental state you can be. This means good nutrition. You should also make sure to have a large number of bacteria (CFUs) in your diet to improve your gut health microbiome. This tends to have a direct impact on your brain. Some specific foods I recommend are Soylent, kimchi, kombucha, greek yogurt, sauerkraut, chickpeas, and dark chocolate.

I'm also a large user of nootropics like green tea, Huel, and Adderall. I recommend a 10mg dose of Adderall along with some decaffeinated green tea in the morning (if it's caffeinated the combination may have adverse side effects), along with taking Huel supplements throughout the day.

I tend to work on a laptop so I can continue coding in any situation (parents forcing me to come to dinner, boss at work wants me to go into the office, etc...). I also like to use a Walmart folding table so I can remain portable, and my desk setup can be easily transported to a variety of locations (the park, a hotel room, the beach, bars, restaurants, etc...). I also use a Herman Miller chair, as I find it very comfortable.

Sleep is also essential to good health, mental and otherwise. For that reason, I recommend sleeping on a luxury mattress. I like using 

 (this is NOT an affiliate link, I do not need the money as I have made $1.4M from MEV arbitrage on Solana)

Because sleep is so important, I recommend using an air mattress so you can fall asleep in a variety of locations (the park, a hotel room, the beach, bars, restaurants. etc....).

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak” 

Most of my developer setup is optimized around minimizing the use of the mouse. Using the mouse will eventually hurt your wrist health, but I believe that eliminating it from your workflow long-term will actually 

. I'll introduce a couple of the tools I use to eliminate using the mouse. Soon you'll be zooming through your workflow like a Starcraft player.

If you take anything away from this, I recommend you to use Vimium.

This adds Vim keybindings to chrome, but unlike vim, the learning curve is tiny, and you'll almost instantly notice improvements in your browsing speed. It also helps you get used to vim keybindings and movements.

Before explaining why I think Apptivate is good, I first need to explain why existing solutions built into  MACOS are unsatisfactory.

This lets you cycle through recent windows, and if you're only working between two windows it may be okay for you. My issue with it is that the order of the tabs changes while you're coding, and there are a couple of times you need to hunt and peck for the window you're using. For that reason, I find this unsatisfactory.

This is much worse than even the command tab method because where windows will appear is completely unpredictable. You are guaranteed to have to visually search for your window and use your mouse. 

You need your right hand to press the up arrow key, and then it needs to move to the mouse. Too much movement.

This will usually find the application you're looking for immediately, but I've found performance to be slow (even after replacing it with alfred) and usually requires you to type most of the name of an application before the fuzzy finder gives meaningful results.

Apptivate will allow you to set up certain keybinds to be bound to certain applications. This way you can open the window you want with a single press of a button. If you hide the topbar and the dock except for on hover, then your application can even take up the full screen! I find this incredibly convenient. The current keybindings I use are 

You can also do this with the pro version of Alfred, and set up even more complex workflows. I've heard good things about it, so if you're looking for a more powerful tool I recommend that.

On the accessibility panel, I like to check a few options.

 is a must-have. I know apple really wants you to see the pretty animations they've put so much work into, but I find them very jarring and distracting.

 to encourage the idea of one window one purpose. I'm not distracted by weird things behind me. Maybe I have ODC.

For my editor, I use Neovim. Personally, I switched from visual studio code a while ago expecting vim to be old and archaic, but it turns out Vim actually is far more performant than VSCode. Developer speed is essential to coding in Vim. Learning Vim can be challenging but you can start today by entering

Into your terminal to get the basics. Hopefully using Vimium will help as well.

I altered my vim configuration to give me more IDE-like behavior (fuzzy finding, autocompletion, errors). You can find my current up-to-date vim configuration 

I tend to listen to rhythm game music as I work. I find it keeps me engaged with its rapid and non-repetitive nature. I think anything is good that can silence distractive thoughts, like am I hungry for another Soylent?

I like to use Apple music because it has lossless quality. If you don't care about being lossless, then MEV may not be suited for you, as we are trying to minimize losses.

Everybody's developer workflow will end up being different, and I'm just offering mine as a perspective on how yours can be improved.

The Straussian distinction between exoteric and esoteric communication is a profound culture-neutral phenomenon 

Wisdom can in fact never be gained while in the herd; it can only be found by deciphering the soft footprints of the mystics"