LND Channel Rebalancing Strategies -- Keep Liquidity Balanced

Why Rebalancing Matters

Unbalanced channels reduce routing capacity. A channel that is 100% local cannot receive; 100% remote cannot send. Rebalancing moves liquidity to where it is needed.

Circular Rebalancing with lncli

# Find a circular path and rebalance
lncli queryroutes --dest <your_pubkey> --amt 100000 --outgoing_chan_id <chan_id>

# Execute circular payment
lncli sendpayment --dest <your_pubkey> --amt 100000 --outgoing_chan_id <chan_id>

Using bos (Balance of Satoshis)

# Install bos
npm install -g balanceofsatoshis

# Circular rebalance
bos rebalance --in <inbound_peer> --out <outbound_peer> --amount 500000

# Auto-rebalance with fee limit
bos rebalance --in <peer> --out <peer> --amount 500000 --max-fee-rate 500

Using charge-lnd for Automated Fees

# Install charge-lnd
pip install charge-lnd

# Config example (charge.config)
[default]
strategy = proportional
min_fee_ppm = 50
max_fee_ppm = 2000

Lightning Pool for Liquidity

Lightning Pool lets you buy inbound liquidity from other nodes. Use when you need inbound capacity quickly without circular rebalancing.

pool orders submit --amt 2000000 --max_batch_fee_rate 253

Common Issues

- "no route" — not enough liquidity on path, try smaller amounts

- High fees — use --max-fee-rate to cap rebalancing cost

- Frequent rebalancing — symptom of poor channel selection, consider closing imbalanced channels