Latency & routing on the Arbitrum MEV bot stack

Arbitrum’s rollup architecture rewards desks that react quickly to sequencer bursts while keeping risk tooling conservative. Treat FRB as a latency-aware co-pilot: keep filters broad enough to capture genuine opportunities, measure recall across several hundred blocks, and log every rejection reason so you can tune configs without guesswork. That’s how a crypto MEV bot keeps maximal extractable executions transparent without slowing down approvals.

The safest pattern is to stream private bundles through allowlisted relays, reserve public PGA fallbacks for tiny canary quantities, and let FRB’s refund guard stop runaway scenarios. Pair this guide with the Chain MEV hub for a cross-network checklist and the WSS Latency Test to baseline your providers.

Who this Arbitrum MEV bot guide serves

This snapshot is for MEV searchers, block builder partners, and ops engineers who must prove that their Arbitrum MEV bot behaves responsibly. Use it to brief compliance teams on how you treat pending transactions, to train quants on transaction ordering and liquidity tiers, and to show support what artifacts (logs, telemetry, gas calculator exports) you will provide during incidents. Document where the bot operating in canary mode differs from full production so everyone knows which parameters can change.

Network profile

Typical inclusion targets hover between 55–75% for well-behaved routes with bundle depth below five blocks. Sequencer bursts create micro-latency spikes, so monitor p50/p95 figures instead of relying on a single point. FRB users often run two WSS endpoints per region—one primary with <120 ms median RTT and a standby kept warm for quick rotation. Track the profitable opportunities that emerge when sequencer backlogs appear; these windows often last minutes, not hours.

• Focus on low-variance WSS; variance is a better alarm than absolute median.
• Keep router allowlists synced with your token universe and run automated hygiene checks on any new pool before enabling it in production.
• When the sequencer backlog swells, increase canary spacing instead of blasting bigger bundles—measure twice, fire once.

Endpoint & instrumentation tips

Route telemetry into FRB’s Ops Pulse and telemetry log so you can compare provider performance per hour. Tag each endpoint with geo metadata, surface VRF jitter, and alert when rejection types skew toward “nonce window closed”—that usually means your stream is drifting behind the sequencer. Log realized gas prices plus gas cost per bundle so finance can see why certain slots were worth pursuing.

1. Benchmark every endpoint with sustained 1–2 rps traffic, not single bursts.
2. Store 24 hours of latency snapshots to visualize degradations before they cascade.
3. Mirror the same monitors in simulation and production so you can tell if a regression is environmental or strategy-specific.

Strategy patterns FRB desks run

Most desks start with conservative backruns that watch large swap routers, alert on sudden depth changes, then queue delta-neutral bundles. Combine that with protection routes that pre-hedge sandwich exposure by reserving gas credits ahead of time. When latency windows are tight, let FRB split inventory between a “fast lane” (pure private bundle) and a “buffer lane” (slower, higher-recall filter) so you never freeze while you retune filters. Keep a dedicated arbitrage bot lane focused on token swap bursts across Camelot, Uniswap, or custom smart contract routers so you always know where edge is forming.

Keep a notebook of gas multipliers per venue. Arbitrum sometimes rewards slightly higher maxFeePerGas than your simulation predicted; FRB’s refund safety net and Gas Calculator make it easier to justify micro overbids without blowing the budget.

Risk controls & when to simulate

Never graduate a route straight from synthetic traffic to full allocation. Run 48 hrs of sim-only capture, review Ops Pulse for anomalies, and enforce the following gates:

• Session cap per pair plus a global USD budget stored inside FRB’s policy engine.
• Stop-loss on inclusion: pause if three blocks in a row return late or not at all.
• Automatic downgrade to tiny bundles when refund ratio crosses a custom threshold.

If you have to fall back to public submission, protect yourself with extremely tight auction windows, double-check transaction content for reroute risk, and document every attempt for the compliance team.

Launch checklist

Before letting capital flow, walk through this abbreviated runbook:

1. Benchmark WSS endpoints with the latency test, log medians, and store readiness notes in Knowledge Base.
2. Replay historical blocks to confirm your filters are catching expected signatures.
3. Enable FRB’s refund guardrails and set notification routes for every severity level.
4. Dry-run the uninstall path so you can stop instantly if compliance or latency surprises appear.

Stick to these guardrails and you will compound routes faster without violating the “measure twice” culture that keeps FRB desks clean. When in doubt, pause, document, and escalate through FRB Support before scaling size.

Quick checklist

• Reliable WSS < 120–150 ms median and alerting on variance spikes.
• Router allowlists, token hygiene, and rolling sandbox tests.
• Private bundles first; fallback public routes with strict size caps only.
• Canary downshift rules defined in FRB risk policies.
• Gas/slippage/session budgets linked to refund telemetry.

Example playbook: 48-hour rollout

A typical two-day rollout for a new Arbitrum pair looks like this:

1. Day 0 evening – benchmark endpoints, snapshot configs in your repo, and request approvals.
2. Day 1 morning – run simulation only; log rejection reasons, confirm router liquidity, and share Ops Pulse charts.
3. Day 1 evening – promote to canary with 10% size, enable refund guard notifications to Slack/Teams.
4. Day 2 morning – if inclusion > 60% and refunds < 5% of attempts, raise to 25% allocation.
5. Day 2 evening – present findings to the desk and decide whether to scale to full size or iterate.

Sticking to this cadence keeps everyone honest and produces artifacts (benchmarks, charts, logs) that compliance and future teammates can reuse.

FAQ

How is Arbitrum different from Base or Optimism? Arbitrum’s sequencer cadence tends to spike harder, so we bias toward lower variance WSS and more aggressive refund thresholds. Compare this guide with the Base MEV notes and Optimism MEV guide to see how the guardrails shift.

When should I rotate relays? If variance exceeds 40 ms for more than 10 minutes or inclusion dips below 55%, rotate immediately. FRB can auto-notify you, but always log the reason in your runbook so future on-call engineers understand the context.

What if I need help during a live incident? Use the contact flow documented on /vulnerabilityor the standard support channel. Share Ops Pulse exports, gas calculator assumptions, and the latest latency snapshots so we can reproduce your issue quickly.

Pending transactions & smart contract hygiene

Make sure your Arbitrum MEV bot tracks which smart contracts are in play and how their upgrades might influence transaction ordering. When bridges, perp venues, or NFT drops kick up traffic, log how pending transactions changed and what guard rails you applied. Share those notes with the Knowledge Base and update risk owners so everyone sees why a route was paused or promoted. Tag every custom smart contract you approve, capture the precise token swap logic, and document what the bot operating at canary size observed before you scale.

• Classify routers by liquidity and attach minimum size rules inside FRB policy pages.
• Describe the purpose of every simulation, including expected ROI and fallback plans.
• Document interactions with block builders so you can escalate faster during sequencer anomalies.
• Record realized gas cost and variance whenever you reprice bundles so future reviews understand the trade.

CTA & next steps

Ready to operationalize this Arbitrum MEV bot workflow? Install the signed Windows agent, follow the Docs Quickstart, and brief the team with this checklist alongside the MEV Strategies Guide so everyone inherits the same safeguards. After each iteration, compare the results on the FRB metrics dashboard (plus the Flashbots slice) and log your rollout steps inside the Execution Hub so stakeholders can trace transaction ordering decisions.