Throughput per sat locked is the one that actually answers it. Take sats routed over a period, divide by sats locked in channels. That ratio tells you whether the capital is working or just parked with a story.

Velocity alone flatters you, because one hot wallet looping funds looks the same as real routing. Success rate matters too but it measures reliability, not efficiency. Net routing revenue per locked sat is the honest version, since it already bakes in fees, rebalancing cost, and forced-close risk.

For most nodes that number is negative after rebalancing, which is the real reason cold storage still wins for the average holder.