Kraken Review

Kraken is one of the largest and best known crypto trading platforms in the world. They are based in San Francisco and were founded in 2011 although the exchange wasn’t launched until 2013. Continue reading our Kraken review to learn more about them and what they have to offer.

What Is a Kraken?

Kraken is a crypto exchange and is one of the platforms that allow futures contracts and margin trading. They don’t offer crypto loans or interest bearing accounts at Kraken and it doesn’t have its own wallet. However if you are interested in earning interest on your asset staking crypto is an option. Kraken operates all over the world. The only counties where Kraken is not available are Afghanistan, Congo, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria and Tajikistan. U.S traders are accepted on the platform with the exception of residents from the states of New York and Washington.

Kraken Withdrawal Fees

There are 7 different fiat currencies accepted at Kraken:

• US dollars (USD)
• Euros (EUR)
• Australian dollars (AUD)
• Canadian dollars (CAD)
• British pound (GBP)
• Swiss franc (CHF)
• Japanese yen (JPY)

Deposits and withdrawals of fiat currencies can be made using SEPA, SWIFT, wire and domestic transfers. Withdrawal fees will vary depending on the method being used as well as the fiat currency being withdrawn. The minimum withdrawal amount will also vary depending on the method used and fiat currency being withdrawn. It generally takes from 1-5 business days to withdraw fiat currency from your account.

You can also deposit to your account using any of the cryptos supported by the platform. Depending on the cryptocurrency there may be a set-up fee when depositing but most cryptocurrencies are free to deposit. Some fees will be incurred for withdrawing cryptocurrency. As with fiat currency the minimum withdrawal amount and withdrawal fee will depend on the cryptocurrency being withdrawn. The fee to withdraw Bitcoin is 0.00015 BTC and the minimum withdrawal amount is 0.00050 BTC which includes the fee.

 Kraken Exchange & Trading

The main purpose of Kraken is for investors to be able to buy and sell cryptocurrency assets. However Kraken offers some advanced features that you can take advantage of.

 Futures Trading: Kraken offers futures trading to buy or sell cryptocurrency at a later date for a fixed price. The futures available at Kraken are Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Bitcoin.

• Margin Trading: Allows investors to leverage their Kraken funds by up to 5 times to go long or short on crypto. Margin trading is risky and not a good idea for new investors
• Over-the Counter Services:  High volume traders can get 1-on1 service with a dedicated account manager. They can also place large buy and sell order anonymously so that trades aren’t visible to other investors. This benefits the trader as the price won’t be adversely affected when trying to fill a large order.
• Staking: Investors can stake their coins and earn staking rewards rather than just have their asset sit in their account. This allows them to profit while waiting for their crypto to increase in value

 Kraken trading fees are competitive and a little less than industry average. There is a 0.16% maker fee and a 0.26% taker fee for monthly volumes that are $50,000 or less. As the volume of monthly trades goes up the fee goes progressively down until a monthly trade volume of $10,000,000 is reached at which point there is no maker fee and the taker fee is 0.10%. When you compare Kraken vs. Coinbase the trading fees at Kraken are significantly less.

There is a Kraken app available for both iOS and Android devices but it isn’t available to U.S users. You can also link the Kraken API to apps like Crypto Pro is you prefer and it will update automatically with every trade.

Kraken support is available to customers 24/7 to assist with any problems or answer any questions. In addition the site has an excellent support library that answers many questions that newer users are likely to have. In addition they provide a large number of cryptocurrency guides, video lessons and podcasts that will educate you on cryptocurrency trading.

 Kraken Account

To take advantage of any of Kraken’s services you will need to open an account. Opening an account consists of a few simple steps:

 Go to the Kraken site and click on the “Create Account” button in the upper-right corner. 

• Enter your email address, a username and a password on the signup form. The username cannot be changed after sign up.
• Check the agree box if you are okay with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of Kraken and the click the “Sign Up” button. An activation email containing an activation key will be sent to you
• Enter the activation key on the account activation form or click the link in the email to complete activation
• Confirm your password and if asked complete the captcha. Click the Activate Account button

 That’s all there is to it. Now you can log in to Kraken anytime by simply entering your username and password.

 You can open a Kraken account and trade cryptocurrency without having to undergo any KYC (Know Your Customer) or AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes. However without a KYC verified account you will not be able to deposit or withdraw fiat currencies and the withdrawal limits on cryptocurrency will be low. You also won’t be able to trade futures contracts unless you complete KYC verification.

 Is Kraken Legit?

Kraken is security conscious and maintains that they keep 95% of all deposits off-line in cold storage. They support 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) via Google Authenticator or a YubiKey. Kraken also employs their own security team and offers a bug bounty for anybody who discovers any security vulnerability in their platform. If you compare Bitfinex vs Kraken on security issues, Kraken has never been hacked nor had an incident. Bitfinex has had some issues although they haven’t resulted in the loss of user funds. The Kraken logo represents one of the most secure cryptocurrency exchanges in the business.

 Kraken complies with the rules and regulations in all supported jurisdictions. It is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FinCEN in the United States and FINTRAC in Canada. In the United Kingdom Kraken Futures is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Kraken also holds 100% reserves verified by Blockstream’s standardized Proof of Reserves. Kraken is definitely legitimate and one of the safest places to trade cryptocurrency.

 Cryptocurrencies Supported at Kraken

There are currently just over 60 different cryptocurrencies you can trade on Kraken including the most popular coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Three of the cryptos available are stablecoins. Although this is a good number of coins if you look at Binance vs Kraken, Binance currently offers over 500 cryptocurrencies for trading.  The cryptocurrencies supported at Kraken are:

• 0x   
• Aave
• Aavegotchi 
• Algorand    
• Aragon        ANT
• Augur  REP
• Augur v2                
• Basic Attention Token       
• Balancer     
• Bitcoin BTC
• Bitcoin Cash  
• Cardano     
• Chainlink    
• Compound 
• Cosmos      
• Curve 
• Dash
• Decentraland  
• Dogecoin    
• Energy Web Token
• EOS
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Filecoin      
• Flow
• Gnosis
• ICON 
• Kava
• Keep Network
• Kusama      
• Kyber Network      
• Lisk
• Litecoin      
• Maker 
• Melon 
• Monero       
• Nano  
• Ocean 
• OmiseGO   
• Orchid OXT
• PAX Gold  
• Polkadot     
• Polygon      
• Qtum  
• REN Protocol 
• Rarible
• Ripple 
• Siacoin       
• Stellar Lumens       
• Storj
• Synthetix    
• tBTC  
• Tezos  
• The Graph  
• Tron
• Uniswap     
• WAVES     
• Yearn Finance
• Zcash

The three stablecoins supported are Dai, Tether and USD Coin