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mev-analysis Checked

MEV exposure assessment, sandwich attack detection, and protection strategies for Solana DEX trading
💰 Finance & Trading skills By agiprolabs Version v1.0.0 Added 2026-09-20 Updated 2026-09-20 Source ↗
8.5Overall rating
2Views
7Downloads
366Stars

Installation

🤖 Install via AI

Copy the prompt below and send it to your AI assistant (e.g. Claude Code) — it will follow the instructions and install automatically.

Install the "mev-analysis" skill by following the instructions at https://skill123.me/install/mev-analysis.
⌨️ Command line install

Run in your terminal — downloads and installs to ~/.claude/skills/.

curl -fsSL https://skill123.me/install/mev-analysis.sh | bash
📦 Download ZIP

Download the zip and extract it into your skills directory (e.g. ~/.claude/skills/), then restart your session.

⬇ Download v1.0.0 · 25 KB
📊 Static rating
8.5/10
Trigger
6.5
Structure
8.0
Workflow
8.8
Content
9.0
Engineering
10.0
Security
9.5

Six-dimension rubric with reviewer rationale.

View scorecard ↓
🛡 Dynamic test
—

Not live-tested yet — this skill is rated on static analysis only.

About this skill

MEV exposure assessment, sandwich attack detection, and protection strategies for Solana DEX trading

MEV Analysis for Solana DEX Trading

Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) is the profit that validators and searchers can extract by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. On Solana DEXes, MEV primarily manifests as sandwich attacks against swaps, cross-DEX arbitrage, and liquidation extraction. This skill covers detection, estimation, and protection strategies.

Documentation

MEV exposure assessment, sandwich attack detection, and protection strategies for Solana DEX trading

MEV Analysis for Solana DEX Trading

Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) is the profit that validators and searchers can extract by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. On Solana DEXes, MEV primarily manifests as sandwich attacks against swaps, cross-DEX arbitrage, and liquidation extraction. This skill covers detection, estimation, and protection strategies.

What Is MEV on Solana?

MEV occurs when someone with transaction ordering power profits at other traders' expense. On Solana, the MEV supply chain works as follows:

1. **You submit a swap** through an RPC endpoint

2. **Searchers observe** your transaction (via RPC forwarding, block engine access, or leader TPU sniffing)

3. **Searcher constructs a profitable bundle** (e.g., sandwich your swap)

4. **Bundle submitted to Jito block engine** with a tip to the validator

5. **Validator includes the bundle** in the block, earning the tip

6. **You receive worse execution**; the searcher profits the difference

### How Solana MEV Differs from Ethereum

| Aspect | Ethereum | Solana |

|--------|----------|--------|

| Block time | 12 seconds | ~400ms slots |

| Mempool | Public mempool | No mempool (but tx visible in transit) |

| Ordering | Proposer-builder separation (PBS) | Jito block engine (~85%+ validators) |

| Bundle system | Flashbots bundles | Jito bundles with tips |

| MEV cost | Gas priority fees | Jito tips (SOL) |

| Latency pressure | Moderate | Extreme (sub-100ms decisions) |

Key Solana-specific factors:

  • **No public mempool**: Transactions flow RPC → TPU → Leader, but searchers tap into this flow via Jito's block engine and modified validators
  • **Known leader schedule**: The leader (block producer) schedule is known ~2 epochs ahead, letting searchers target specific leaders
  • **Jito dominance**: ~85%+ of validators run the Jito-modified client, making Jito bundles the primary MEV vector
  • **Speed**: 400ms slots mean MEV bots must operate in microseconds, favoring co-located infrastructure

MEV Types on Solana

### 1. Sandwich Attacks

The most common MEV attack against retail traders.

**Mechanics:**


1. Attacker sees your pending swap: Buy 10 SOL worth of TOKEN_X
2. Front-run:  Attacker buys TOKEN_X first  → price rises
3. Your swap:  You buy TOKEN_X at higher price → worse execution
4. Back-run:   Attacker sells TOKEN_X         → profits the difference

**Your loss** = price impact from front-run + attacker's profit margin

**Attacker profit** = your_loss - jito_tip - transaction_fees

**Risk factors:**

  • Trade size: Larger trades = more profitable to sandwich
  • Token liquidity: Illiquid tokens = easier price manipulation
  • Slippage setting: Wide slippage = more room for the attacker
  • Pool type: CPMM pools more vulnerable than CLMM pools at concentrated ranges

### 2. Arbitrage (Cross-DEX)

Searchers capture price discrepancies between DEXes.

View full documentation

Pool A: TOKEN_X = 1.00 USDC
Pool B: TOKEN_X = 1.02 USDC
→ Buy on A, sell on B, profit 0.02 USDC per token (minus fees)

This is generally **beneficial** to the market — it equalizes prices across venues. However, your trade may trigger the arbitrage opportunity that the searcher captures.

### 3. Liquidation Extraction

When DeFi positions (Solend, Marginfi, Kamino) become undercollateralized, searchers race to liquidate them and claim the liquidation bonus (typically 5-10%).

### 4. JIT (Just-In-Time) Liquidity

Searchers add concentrated liquidity to a CLMM pool just before a large swap and remove it immediately after, earning swap fees without sustained impermanent loss exposure. This is a sophisticated MEV form that can actually **improve** execution for the swapper.

### 5. Back-Running

Trading immediately after a large swap that moved the price, capturing the reversion. Less harmful than sandwiching because it does not worsen your execution — it profits from the market response to your trade.

Estimating MEV Exposure

Estimate your MEV risk before executing a trade:


import httpx

def estimate_mev_risk(
    trade_size_sol: float,
    pool_liquidity_usd: float,
    slippage_bps: int,
    token_daily_volume_usd: float,
) -> dict:
    """Estimate sandwich attack profitability for a given trade.

    Returns risk assessment with estimated cost and recommendations.
    """
    # Trade as percentage of pool liquidity
    sol_price = 150.0  # approximate; fetch live price in production
    trade_usd = trade_size_sol * sol_price
    trade_pct_of_pool = (trade_usd / pool_liquidity_usd) * 100

    # Estimated price impact from constant-product AMM
    # price_impact ≈ trade_size / pool_liquidity (simplified)
    price_impact_bps = int(trade_pct_of_pool * 100)

    # Sandwich profitability: attacker captures portion of slippage headroom
    # Rough model: sandwich_profit ≈ 0.5 * slippage_headroom * trade_size
    slippage_headroom_bps = slippage_bps - price_impact_bps
    if slippage_headroom_bps < 0:
        slippage_headroom_bps = 0

    sandwich_profit_usd = (slippage_headroom_bps / 10000) * trade_usd * 0.5
    jito_tip_cost = 0.001 * sol_price  # ~0.001 SOL typical tip
    tx_fees = 0.000015 * sol_price * 2  # two transactions for sandwich

    net_mev_profit = sandwich_profit_usd - jito_tip_cost - tx_fees
    is_profitable_to_sandwich = net_mev_profit > 0.10  # $0.10 minimum

    # Volume ratio indicates MEV bot attention level
    volume_ratio = trade_usd / max(token_daily_volume_usd, 1)

    risk_level = "LOW"
    if is_profitable_to_sandwich and trade_pct_of_pool > 1.0:
        risk_level = "HIGH"
    elif is_profitable_to_sandwich or trade_pct_of_pool > 0.5:
        risk_level = "MEDIUM"

    return {
        "risk_level": risk_level,
        "trade_pct_of_pool": round(trade_pct_of_pool, 2),
        "estimated_price_impact_bps": price_impact_bps,
        "slippage_headroom_bps": slippage_headroom_bps,
        "estimated_sandwich_cost_usd": round(max(net_mev_profit, 0), 2),
        "is_profitable_to_sandwich": is_profitable_to_sandwich,
        "recommendations": _get_recommendations(
            risk_level, trade_size_sol, slippage_bps, trade_pct_of_pool
        ),
    }


def _get_recommendations(
    risk_level: str,
    trade_size_sol: float,
    slippage_bps: int,
    trade_pct_of_pool: float,
) -> list[str]:
    """Generate protection recommendations based on risk assessment."""
    recs = []
    if risk_level == "HIGH":
        recs.append("Use Jito bundle with 0.001-0.005 SOL tip")
        recs.append("Use private/protected RPC endpoint")
    if trade_pct_of_pool > 2.0:
        n_splits = max(2, int(trade_pct_of_pool))
        recs.append(f"Split into {n_splits} trades over 2-5 minutes")
    if slippage_bps > 100:
        recs.append(f"Reduce slippage from {slippage_bps}bps to 50-100bps")
    if risk_level in ("MEDIUM", "HIGH"):
        recs.append("Enable Jupiter dynamic slippage / MEV protection")
    if not recs:
        recs.append("Standard execution is likely safe for this trade size")
    return recs

MEV Protection Strategies

### Strategy 1: Tight Slippage Settings

Set slippageBps as low as feasible. Sandwich profit is bounded by your slippage tolerance.

| Token Liquidity | Recommended Slippage |

|----------------|---------------------|

| > $5M pool | 50 bps (0.5%) |

| $1M - $5M pool | 100 bps (1%) |

| $100K - $1M pool | 150-200 bps |

| < $100K pool | 200-500 bps (high risk) |

**Trade-off:** Too-tight slippage causes failed transactions, costing you fees with no execution.

### Strategy 2: Jito Bundles

Submit your swap as a Jito bundle with a priority tip:


import httpx

JITO_BLOCK_ENGINE = "https://mainnet.block-engine.jito.wtf"

async def submit_jito_bundle(
    signed_transactions: list[str],
    tip_lamports: int = 1_000_000,  # 0.001 SOL
) -> str:
    """Submit a transaction bundle to Jito block engine.

    Args:
        signed_transactions: Base64-encoded signed transactions.
        tip_lamports: Tip amount in lamports (1 SOL = 1e9 lampo

Score breakdown

Trigger
6.5
What (assessment, detection, protection) and domain (Solana DEX) are clear with good keyword coverage (MEV, sandwich attack, slippage, Jito); no Use-when, boundary, or trigger variants.
Structure
8.0
Two well-scoped references (mechanics, protection strategies) and two scripts; 320-line SKILL.md embeds full function bodies duplicating script content; Files section annotates contents.
Workflow
8.8
Strong execution design: risk estimator with explicit profitability model and risk tiers, protection ladder with concrete slippage/tip tables and trade-offs, numbered detection procedure with attacker-signer verification, and split-plan computation; demo modes provide offline verification; sandwich_detector doubles as a post-trade verification tool.
Content
9.0
Dense and concrete (tip guidelines in SOL, bps thresholds, indicator lists); consistent imperative style.
Engineering
10.0
Frontmatter valid; shebangs, dependencies, and env vars documented in script headers; all referenced paths exist.
Security
9.5
6.0 manifest — network destinations: mainnet.block-engine.jito.wtf, mainnet.helius-rpc.com, api.mainnet-beta.solana.com, api.dexscreener.com, api.coingecko.com — all official/declared market infrastructure matching the skill's declared purpose; API keys exclusively via env vars; base64 usage in references is transaction serialization for the Jito protocol, not obfuscation; no local data egress, no file writes, no persistence. Capabilities match declared scope.
Thorough Solana MEV skill: supply-chain mechanics (Jito block engine, leader schedule), attack taxonomy (sandwich, arb, liquidation, JIT), a quantitative sandwich-profitability risk model, layered protection strategies with trade-off tables, and a same-slot sandwich-detection procedure with indicator heuristics. Both scripts default to demo mode. All network destinations are official infrastructure. Deductions: description lacks When/When-Not; SKILL.md duplicates substantial code that also lives in scripts; hardcoded SOL=150 price assumption flagged as needing live fetch.