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Sandwich attack

A bot places one trade immediately before your swap and another immediately after it, capturing the price move it forced you into.

Last verified 13 September 2026 · written by the DexLadder team

What it means

A bot places one trade immediately before your swap and another immediately after it, capturing the price move it forced you into.

Why it matters when you trade

It is the industrialised form of front-running, and it is fully automated. The attacker's profit is bounded by your slippage tolerance, which is why that setting is a safety parameter, not a convenience. Trading thin pools, using round-number sizes and leaving default tolerances are what make an ordinary swap worth attacking.

Worked example

Your $50,000 swap with 5% tolerance is bracketed: the bot buys first, you fill 4.6% worse, the bot sells into your own impact.

See it on live markets

DexLadder runs sandwich attack against live market and pool data, with simulated capital, so you can watch it act on an order instead of reading about it — no account, no wallet, nothing installed.

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