What is RPC? And why it affects your trades

Introduction

If you’ve been trading crypto lately — especially on Solana — you may have heard people talking about RPCs like they’re some kind of cheat code. And in a way, they are.

In today’s ultra-competitive markets, having a good RPC is like having fiber internet while everyone else is on dial-up. It’s not just technical — it’s tactical.

What Is an RPC? (And Why Should You Care?)

Let’s keep it simple.

Imagine you’re ordering food delivery. Your app (like Phantom or MetaMask) is the phone in your hand. The restaurant is the blockchain. The person taking your order and making sure it goes through? That’s the RPC.

An RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is what lets your wallet, bot, or trading tool talk to the blockchain. It’s the invisible highway between your clicks and the actual network. The faster and more reliable it is, the better your trades — especially when milliseconds make the difference between a win and a missed entry. More technically, an RPC is a communication protocol that lets your app or trading bot send requests to a blockchain node. It’s how software asks the blockchain to do something — like send a transaction, check your wallet balance, or read the latest block.

Without an RPC, your crypto tools are basically blind.

What RPCs Let You Do:

Check your wallet balance
Send a transaction or trade
Interact with smart contracts (DeFi, NFTs, staking)
Run automated bots or trading strategies

Every time you click “Swap” on a DEX, your transaction gets routed through an RPC. Every time a bot scans the mempool or submits a trade, it’s talking through an RPC. Even dApps rely on RPCs to display real-time blockchain data.

How Do RPC Nodes Work?

Think of an RPC node as a personal translator and courier between you and the blockchain.

Here’s what happens step-by-step when you make a trade, check your wallet, or run a bot:

Step-by-Step Flow

You Send a Request

Your wallet, dApp, or bot sends a command like: “Check balance” or “Send this trade.”

RPC Node Receives It

The RPC node decodes your request and prepares it to interact with the blockchain.

Blockchain Interaction

The node forwards your request to the actual blockchain network — whether it’s querying data or submitting a transaction.

Response Sent Back

Once processed, the node sends a response back to your app. Success, failure, confirmation, or data — whatever you asked for.

Public vs Private RPC Nodes

Feature	Public RPC	Private/Custom RPC
Cost	Free	Paid (subscription or custom infra)
Speed	Slower, often congested	Fast and reliable
Reliability	May go down under high traffic	Higher uptime
Security	Exposed to front-running (MEV)	Can offer MEV protection
Use Case	Casual users	Pro traders, bot runners

Public RPCs are like using a shared Wi-Fi at a crowded airport — anyone can use it, but it’s not fast or stable.

Private RPCs are like having your own high-speed connection — faster, more secure, and built for performance.

Why Your RPC Matters in Trading

When markets are moving fast, RPC performance is not a detail — it’s a critical edge.

Speed & Reliability

In volatile markets (like meme coin launches or NFT mints), seconds — even milliseconds — can cost you.

Faster Confirmation: A high-speed RPC sends your trade to the chain faster, increasing your chances of getting filled before the price moves.
Avoid Failed Trades: Congested public RPCs often cause failed transactions or long delays — especially when everyone’s rushing in at once.

Think of it like race timing — if your order gets to the start line late, you’ve already lost.

Trade Execution & Front-Running Risks

When you use a public RPC, your trade goes through the public — where it’s visible to anyone (including bots).

Front-Running: Bots can see your order, especially if you have a big size, they get their buy pumped by you, jump ahead of you, and push the price up.
Sandwich Attacks: Malicious bots buy before you, wait for your buy to raise the price, then sell immediately after. This occurs in the same block, a malicious node takes your transaction and places its own before and after yours, that’s why sandwich.

Private RPCs with MEV protection can bypass the public mempool, sending your order directly to block producers. This reduces your exposure to predatory tactics.

Data Accuracy for Bots & Quant Tools

Trading bots and quant strategies rely on real-time blockchain data to function properly. A laggy or overloaded RPC can be disastrous.

Signal Delay: If your RPC feeds stale data, your bot may act on outdated prices or fake opportunities.
Slippage and Errors: Timing mismatches increase slippage, execution errors, or missed trades.

For algorithmic traders, a poor RPC is like trading with fogged-up glasses — you’re seeing the market, but not clearly or quickly enough.

Bottom Line: Your RPC isn’t just infrastructure — it’s alpha.

If you’re trading seriously, botting, or sniping, upgrading your RPC setup might be the best performance tweak you can make.

Conclusion: What Makes a Good RPC?

Understanding the RPC Trilemma

This triangle-shaped diagram introduces the “RPC Trilemma” — a simple framework to evaluate what makes an RPC node good, especially in high-performance trading environments like Solana.

Just like the blockchain trilemma (scalability vs security vs decentralization), RPC infrastructure faces its own balancing act between three key attributes:

Efficiency

“Speed and resource utilization in RPC processes”

A good RPC should handle thousands of calls quickly and without wasting system resources.

Why it matters: Fast RPCs mean faster trades, instant wallet updates, and lower latency for bots.
Trade-off: Higher efficiency often requires specialized infrastructure, which can increase cost significantly.

Cost

“Financial and resource expenditure in RPC systems”

Public RPCs are free but often congested. Private RPCs offer better performance — at a price.

Why it matters: For frequent traders or bot users, upgrading to a paid RPC can be a strategic investment.
Trade-off: Going cheap may hurt performance; going premium can get expensive at scale.

Reliability

“Ensuring accurate and consistent call execution”

A reliable RPC consistently delivers correct, on-time data and executes transactions without failure.

Why it matters: Inconsistent data or dropped requests can wreck bot logic and cause failed trades.
Trade-off: Boosting reliability may reduce speed or require more expensive redundancy.

The Tradeoff: You Usually Can’t Max All Three

Fast and cheap? You might lose reliability.
Reliable and cheap? It might be slow.
Fast and reliable? That’ll likely cost more.

A truly great RPC balances all three — but depending on your goals (copy trading, bot sniping, DeFi farming), you might need to prioritize one over the others.

Takeaway: If you’re serious about trading performance, treat your RPC like your trading engine. Choosing the right one is not a technical footnote — it’s a strategic edge.