What is Routing (Lightning)?
Finding a path of channels with enough liquidity in the right direction to carry a payment from sender to recipient.
A payment can only pass through a channel if that channel has capacity on the correct side. Routing therefore depends on the distribution of liquidity, not just on connectivity.
This is why Lightning payments occasionally fail while the network is nominally healthy, and why liquidity management is a real operational discipline for node runners.
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This definition is part of the Bitcoin Logical glossary. For the fuller explanation, start with Learn, or see the live numbers on The Bitcoin Signal.