LND Channel Rebalancing Strategies -- Fix Routing Failures

When your LND node fails to route payments, unbalanced channels are often the cause. Rebalancing moves liquidity from outbound-heavy channels to inbound-heavy ones.

Check Channel Balances

lncli listchannels | jq '.channels[] | {remote_pubkey, local_balance, remote_balance}'

Manual Circular Rebalance via lncli

# Send a circular payment through a chosen path
lncli sendpayment --dest <your_own_pubkey> \
  --amt <sats> \
  --last_hop <target_channel_peer>

Rebalance with bos (Balance of Satoshis)

# Install bos
npm install -g balanceofsatoshis

# Rebalance a specific channel
bos rebalance --in <peer_pubkey> --out <peer_pubkey> --amount <sats>

Set Fee Policy to Attract Flow

lncli updatechanpolicy \
  --chan_point <funding_txid>:<output_index> \
  --base_fee_msat 1000 \
  --fee_rate 0.000500 \
  --time_lock_delta 144

Autopilot for Passive Rebalancing

Enable autopilot in lnd.conf to automatically open new channels toward underconnected nodes:

[autopilot]
active=1
maxchannels=5
allocation=0.6

When Rebalancing Fails

- "no route found" — try a different path or lower the amount

- Fees too high — set a max fee limit with --fee_limit_sat

- Channel inactive — check peer connectivity first