LND Routing Node Setup — Fees, Policies, and Liquidity Management

Running a routing node means your channels forward payments for others. Here's how to set fees and manage liquidity to earn sats.

Set routing fees

# Set fees for all channels
lncli updatechanpolicy \
  --base_fee_msat 1000 \
  --fee_rate 0.000001 \
  --time_lock_delta 40

# Set fees for a specific channel
lncli updatechanpolicy \
  --base_fee_msat 0 \
  --fee_rate 0.0001 \
  --time_lock_delta 40 \
  --chan_point FUNDING_TXID:OUTPUT_INDEX

Check current fee rates

# See your current fees per channel
lncli feereport

# See competitor fees on the same channels
lncli getchaninfo CHANNEL_ID | python3 -c "
import json,sys
d = json.load(sys.stdin)
print('Your node policy:', d['node1_policy'] if d['node1_pub'] == YOUR_PUBKEY else d['node2_policy'])
"

Monitor routing activity

# Check forwarding history (last 100 events)
lncli fwdinghistory --start_time=-720h --max_events 100 | python3 -c "
import json,sys
d = json.load(sys.stdin)
events = d.get('forwarding_events', [])
total_fees = sum(int(e.get('fee_msat', 0)) for e in events) / 1000
print(f'Forwarded: {len(events)} payments, earned: {total_fees:.0f} sats')
"

Circular rebalancing to restore liquidity

# Use bos (balance-of-satoshis) for rebalancing
bos rebalance \
  --in PUBKEY_OF_DEPLETED_CHANNEL_PEER \
  --out PUBKEY_OF_FULL_CHANNEL_PEER \
  --amount 500000 \
  --max-fee-rate 500

# Or use lncli to send circular payment
lncli sendpayment \
  --dest YOUR_NODE_PUBKEY \
  --amt 100000 \
  --payment_hash $(openssl rand -hex 32) \
  --outgoing_chan_id OUTGOING_CHANNEL

Good starting fee strategy

Start with 0 base fee, 100 ppm (0.01%). Watch for failed forwards in logs. If you're forwarding lots, raise fees. If no activity after 2 weeks, lower fees or rebalance channels that are depleted.

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