How Does the Size of the Mempool Relate to the Risk of Front-Running?

A larger mempool size, meaning a higher number of pending transactions, generally increases the risk and complexity of front-running. A large mempool presents more potential targets for front-running bots to analyze and exploit.

However, it also creates more competition among front-runners, driving up the required gas fees. Conversely, a small mempool reduces the number of profitable opportunities, but the few that exist may be exploited more easily with less competition, leading to more guaranteed, albeit smaller, profits.