LND Channel Rebalancing -- Restore Routing Capacity

Channel rebalancing moves liquidity from outbound-heavy channels to inbound-heavy ones. This restores routing capacity and helps earn fees.

Check Channel Balances

lncli listchannels

Manual Circular Rebalance

lncli sendpayment --dest YOUR_PUBKEY \
  --amt 100000 \
  --outgoing_chan_id CHAN_ID_WITH_HIGH_LOCAL \
  --last_hop PEER_PUBKEY_WITH_HIGH_REMOTE

Using bos (Balance of Satoshis)

npm install -g balanceofsatoshis

bos rebalance --amount 500000 \
  --out PEER_WITH_TOO_MUCH_LOCAL \
  --in PEER_WITH_TOO_MUCH_REMOTE \
  --max-fee-rate 100

Automation with charge-lnd

pip install charge-lnd

# charge.config
[default]
strategy = proportional
base_fee_msat = 1000
fee_rate = 100

Common Issues

no route found — try a different intermediate hop or lower amount

high fees — set --max-fee-rate lower or wait for cheaper routes

stuck rebalance — check pending HTLCs: lncli pendingchannels

Rule of Thumb

Keep channels at 20-80% local balance. Rebalance when a channel falls below 10% or above 90%.