The disclosed embodiments relate to the design of a system that implements a coupling balance scheme for differential signals. The system includes a set of 2N signal lines carrying N differential signal pairs, wherein the set of 2N signal lines runs parallel to each other in a planar layout. The set of 2N signal lines is organized into a set of consecutive sequences, wherein each sequence includes a pattern of twists that switch signal positions for each differential pair to cancel coupling effects with respect to other signal lines. Moreover, the positions of differential signal pairs are exchanged between consecutive sequences, so that the set of consecutive sequences includes a sequence for each possible ordering of the N differential signal pairs.