LND Channel Rebalancing Strategies

Why Rebalance?

Channels become unbalanced as payments flow in one direction. Rebalancing restores usable capacity on both sides.

Option 1: Circular Rebalance with bos

npm install -g balanceofsatoshis

bos rebalance \
  --out CHAN_ID \
  --in CHAN_ID \
  --amount 100000 \
  --max-fee-rate 500

Option 2: Manual circular payment

lncli addinvoice --amt 100000
lncli payinvoice --outgoing_chan_id OUT_CHAN_ID BOLT11

Option 3: Loop Out

loop out --amt 500000 --channel CHAN_ID

Check Balance

lncli listchannels | python3 -c "import json,sys; [print(c["remote_pubkey"][:20], c["local_balance"], c["remote_balance"]) for c in json.load(sys.stdin)["channels"]]"

Cost Tip

Keep max-fee-rate at 100-500 ppm. Only rebalance if expected routing earnings exceed rebalancing cost.