my node is almost perfectly balanced, but the individual channels are almost all completely full or empty. is there anything wrong with leaving it like this, other than i won't be routing for others? 🤔
#asknostr #lightningnetwork #newbienoderunner
Discussion
I think that it can be bad in certain situations , like when if somebody is trying to route a payment and all the chanell that has all of your inbound liquidity isn't very well connected .
I'm really not an expert though , I hope somebody that knows better comes along soon for you .
What is the purpose of your node? If it's trying to be a routing node, then obviously not good. But if it's just for spending and receiving, I think that's normal, but then why would you need public channels (assuming that's the topic of your question)? Also think from your channel peers' perspective. Why would they want to keep idle capital in a channel with you when it could be put to better use elsewhere?
the only purpose was just to dip my toe and be able to to send/receive. i don't understand what you mean about public channels. i'm not opposed to routing payments, but in the 2 months i've been at this, the cost of rebalancing far outweighs the fees earned.
Public (announced) channels are announced through the gossip protocol so that other nodes can route payments through your node, as opposed to private (unannounced) channels that do not route payments for others. For sending and receiving you only need the latter, and that's also what most self custodial wallet providers use for individual user wallets.
If you're making a loss from rebalancing then it means you're not pricing your liquidity correctly. Raise the fees on channels that drain and have no inbound flow, and lower the fees on channels that have most of the liquidity on your side. Don't pay more to rebalance than what you can charge in fees. Learn how other nodes are pricing their liquidity to your channel peers, this information is public.