The thing that separates profitable nodes from the rest: price each channel by which way its liquidity drains, and never rebalance for more than the channel earns.
Fees: run dynamic fees with charge-lnd (LND) or CLBOSS's fee module (CLN). Raise the ppm as a channel's outbound depletes and drop it as it fills. A channel that keeps draining at your price is underpriced.
Rebalancing: only rebalance a channel when the cost per sat is below what it earns on the way out. LNDg makes this easy, because it tracks the earned ppm against the rebalance cost per channel.
Peers: you want sinks, places where sats flow out to (exchanges, big merchants, LSPs serving mobile wallets). Look at a candidate's channels on amboss or mempool.space/lightning. Lots of active, well-priced inbound usually means real demand.
Pruning: close anything with no forwards after 30–60 days and redeploy the capital. Idle liquidity is the biggest hidden cost.
Realistic expectation: a well-run small node typically earns well under 1% a year on its capital. It's profitable, but it pays like a hobby, not like a business.
The thing that separates profitable nodes from the rest: price each channel by which way its liquidity drains, and never rebalance for more than the channel earns.
Realistic expectation: a well-run small node typically earns well under 1% a year on its capital. It's profitable, but it pays like a hobby, not like a business.