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In this paper, we propose a Load‐Balancing and Coding‐Aware Multicast (LCM) protocol for mobile ad hoc networks. In LCM protocol, a new route metric named Expected Transmission Time with Coding and Load Balancing (ETTCL) is presented at first, aiming at effectively selecting the path not only that has the possible coding opportunity but also where overflow due to network overload can be prevented. Then, we describe the route discovery phase by constructing the node‐disjoint multicast tree on the basis of ETTCL and employ network coding to encode the data flows for route maintenance. The effectiveness of LCM protocol is simulated and analyzed by NS‐2, which shows that this protocol has good performance in reducing average end‐to‐end delay and control overhead and can improve packet delivery ratio compared with the existing protocol. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.