diff --git a/channeldb/error.go b/channeldb/error.go
index 15cfa840..c9ddfb49 100644
--- a/channeldb/error.go
+++ b/channeldb/error.go
@@ -97,6 +97,12 @@ var (
 	// ErrNoForwardingEvents is returned in the case that a query fails due
 	// to the log not having any recorded events.
 	ErrNoForwardingEvents = fmt.Errorf("no recorded forwarding events")
+
+	// ErrEdgePolicyOptionalFieldNotFound is an error returned if a channel
+	// policy field is not found in the db even though its message flags
+	// indicate it should be.
+	ErrEdgePolicyOptionalFieldNotFound = fmt.Errorf("optional field not " +
+		"present")
 )
 
 // ErrTooManyExtraOpaqueBytes creates an error which should be returned if the
diff --git a/channeldb/graph.go b/channeldb/graph.go
index 947561a1..085d46e7 100644
--- a/channeldb/graph.go
+++ b/channeldb/graph.go
@@ -2439,6 +2439,10 @@ type ChannelEdgePolicy struct {
 	// in millisatoshi.
 	MinHTLC lnwire.MilliSatoshi
 
+	// MaxHTLC is the largest value HTLC this node will accept, expressed
+	// in millisatoshi.
+	MaxHTLC lnwire.MilliSatoshi
+
 	// FeeBaseMSat is the base HTLC fee that will be charged for forwarding
 	// ANY HTLC, expressed in mSAT's.
 	FeeBaseMSat lnwire.MilliSatoshi
@@ -3348,11 +3352,26 @@ func serializeChanEdgePolicy(w io.Writer, edge *ChannelEdgePolicy,
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// If the max_htlc field is present, we write it. To be compatible with
+	// older versions that wasn't aware of this field, we write it as part
+	// of the opaque data.
+	// TODO(halseth): clean up when moving to TLV.
+	var opaqueBuf bytes.Buffer
+	if edge.MessageFlags&lnwire.ChanUpdateOptionMaxHtlc != 0 {
+		err := binary.Write(&opaqueBuf, byteOrder, uint64(edge.MaxHTLC))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	if len(edge.ExtraOpaqueData) > MaxAllowedExtraOpaqueBytes {
 		return ErrTooManyExtraOpaqueBytes(len(edge.ExtraOpaqueData))
 	}
+	if _, err := opaqueBuf.Write(edge.ExtraOpaqueData); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
-	if err := wire.WriteVarBytes(w, 0, edge.ExtraOpaqueData); err != nil {
+	if err := wire.WriteVarBytes(w, 0, opaqueBuf.Bytes()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	return nil
@@ -3416,6 +3435,7 @@ func deserializeChanEdgePolicy(r io.Reader,
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to fetch node: %x, %v",
 			pub[:], err)
 	}
+	edge.Node = &node
 
 	// We'll try and see if there are any opaque bytes left, if not, then
 	// we'll ignore the EOF error and return the edge as is.
@@ -3429,6 +3449,25 @@ func deserializeChanEdgePolicy(r io.Reader,
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	edge.Node = &node
+	// See if optional fields are present.
+	if edge.MessageFlags&lnwire.ChanUpdateOptionMaxHtlc != 0 {
+		// The max_htlc field should be at the beginning of the opaque
+		// bytes.
+		opq := edge.ExtraOpaqueData
+
+		// If the max_htlc field is not present, it might be old data
+		// stored before this field was validated. We'll return the
+		// edge along with an error.
+		if len(opq) < 8 {
+			return edge, ErrEdgePolicyOptionalFieldNotFound
+		}
+
+		maxHtlc := byteOrder.Uint64(opq[:8])
+		edge.MaxHTLC = lnwire.MilliSatoshi(maxHtlc)
+
+		// Exclude the parsed field from the rest of the opaque data.
+		edge.ExtraOpaqueData = opq[8:]
+	}
+
 	return edge, nil
 }