In this Kraken Exchange Review, readers will learn about distinct features and offerings of the Kraken Exchange.

Mt. Gox was the world’s first crypto exchange. It came on the scene in 2011. Mt. Gox had a promising start. It held 70% of the total crypto coins from the globe. However, a hacking attack brought this exchange to a spectacular demise. In 2014, Mt. was done and dusted. In the testing times, Jesse Powell, the CEO of Kraken exchange, helped Mt. Gox’s developers in bringing the attacked site back online. He saw the ashes of an exchange. So, the man learned from it and took every measure for protecting his own exchange from a similar fate.

Introduction to Kraken Exchange:

Kraken exchange was founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell. It is a San Francisco based exchange. In Feb 2014, Kraken stood atop every other exchange with the highest volume in trading between bitcoins and Euros. It has earned a good reputation in Crypto circles because of a secure platform. Besides, Mr. Powell is well-known for his opposition to government regulations. New York’s state government tried to put pressure on Kraken for voluntary information. Nevertheless, Mr. Powell didn’t accede to this. As a result, Kraken isn’t available for citizens of New York.

Kraken Exchange operates in the US, Canada, and Europe. Although, there are a lot of crypto users in Japan but exchange had to shut down its service there in 2018. However, Kraken has given hope to Japanese residents that of resuming operations in the future.

Offerings:

Kraken has 34 cryptocurrencies pair available on its platform. See the crypto offering on site.

All crypto pairs cannot be traded for each other. The exchange offers specific crypto-to-crypto and fiat-to-crypto trading pairs.

Fiat pairs available for trade are the following:

• USD (US Dollar)
• EUR (Euro)
• CAD (Canadian Dollar)
• AUD (Australian Dollar)
• GBP (Pound Sterlings)
• CHF (Swiss Franc)
• JPY (Japenese Yen)

Deposits on Kraken Exchange:

As mentioned earlier, Kraken accepts deposits in both fiat and cryptocurrencies.

Crypto deposits are directly sent in Kraken wallet. However, the means of sending fiat are through bank and wire deposits. Kraken doesn’t accept credit cards.

Deposit time on Kraken:

The assets you send to your account take a certain time to credit.

1. Fiat currencies’ deposit time is 0-5 business days.
2. Crypto deposit needs verification from blockchain before it is credited to your account. So, deposit time can range from near-instant to one week depending on confirmation number and type of coin.

Once you deposit, assets are on 72 hours hold from withdrawal. This prevents users from withdrawing 100% money from the account. But, you can trade in the meantime.

Fee Structure:

Kraken takes pride in being a low priced exchange. It takes fee in following forms:

• Deposit fee
• Trading Fee
• Withdrawal fee

Deposit and withdrawal fees vary depending on the type of currencies and means of deposit.

The trading fee is based on maker or taker profile. Makers get to pay less. Additionally, as your trading volume increases Kraken gives a discount on the fee.

How to get verified on Kraken:

After you sign up on Kraken, the platform requires you to verify your account. Verification levels are different depending on which type of account you are opening. Here are the details of verification documents required:

How long does it take to get verified in Kraken:

The time required for verification varies. The starter and intermediate accounts are verified automatically. So, it takes 1-60 minutes and up to 10 minutes respectively for their verification.

Pro-personal and Pro-business accounts need manual verification. Hence, it takes up to 5 days before they are operational.

How to buy bitcoin on Kraken:

Bitcoin is a special form of currency created in 2009. It offers peer to peer transfer. Crypto enthusiasts call it the currency of the future.

• Kraken exchange is the best place for buying bitcoin (BTC).
• First, create and verify your account.
• Credit the account with fiat currency.
• Start buying bitcoin on market price. Kraken charges a small fee for executing orders.

Is Kraken a good exchange?

Kraken is definitely an excellent exchange that offers multiple trading options to its customers. Customers can easily deposit and withdraw their cash. Additionally, the exchange charges small fees for different operations.

Kraken has improved with time and it is keeping up with market demands. In this Kraken exchange review, we will briefly describe Kraken’s features.

High Liquidity:

Kraken exchange makes sure that customers sell their assets on the price they want. The platform has very high liquidity. Following factors drive this feature:

• High trading Volume
• More funding options
• Low fees
• More active traders

Kraken has an ever-increasing number of cryptocurrency pairs. The trade in provided coins is very high because of active traders who are ready to fill the orders. Besides, a trader has multiple options for funding his account. This makes trade fast and convenient at any given time.

Low fees for trade, deposits, and withdrawal attracts market makers. Makers trade on high volume thus increasing the liquidity.

Bitcoin Liquidity:

Kraken is among the top exchanges with respect to bitcoin liquidity. It has a high trade volume in euros which results in this feature. For crypto users living in Europe, Kraken is the best platform for bitcoin trade.

OTC:

Kraken has an Over-the-Counter (OTC) desk for clients who indulge in OTC trade.

Some customers have large assets which they cannot trade on an open market. OTC offers these people a private trading option with high liquidity. Their trade takes place off the open exchange. However, It is secure and highly competitive.

Kraken OTC desk full support to clients having OTC trade. An OTC client gets daily updates on the market with expert opinion. They get personal 1 on 1 service from the initial phase to the execution of the trade.

All supported currencies (both fiat and crypto) listed on Kraken are available for trade via OTC.

Margin Trading:

Margin trading is a trade with leverage. It allows you to benefit from market swings. You open a position that is larger than your current account balance. With margin trade, you can amplify your profits by the percentage of leverage.

Kraken provides margin trading feature with leverage of up to 5*. The clients have to pay a 0.02% fee for opening a margin position. The same is charged as a rollover fee (recurring fee for keeping your margin position open) every 4 hours. This is one of the lowest in the market.

Margin trading is an advanced feature that involves some complexities. However, Kraken provides help and support with its intuitive professional interface. You can manage your position easily and access funds up to 500,000 dollars.

Futures:

In normal trading, crypto traders opt for buying an asset when the price is low and sell it when the price is high. Futures, on the other hand, allow traders to buy or sell assets in the future on fixed prices. This lets traders maximize their earnings up to 50 times. Besides, the risk of sudden price fall of crypto is going to have far less impact.

The prices for Kraken’s futures are based on aggregated indices that represent the demand for each cryptocurrency from a variety of exchanges, so pricing is always clear and transparent. 

_Kraken Exchange

When traders open future positions then the direction of market movement can be identified. You can take advantage of this by going long or short based on a future fluctuation.

Kraken futures has a license from the Financial Conduct Authority(FCA) of UK.

Dark Pool:

Another cool feature of Kraken exchange is dark pool. It is an order book in which a trader is only able to view his own trades. The dark pool makes it possible for traders to buy or sell big assets without letting the rest of the market know. Users can keep their large orders a secret and anonymously execute trades on them.

In the case of a large trade, price moves in an unfavorable direction. But, if the trade is secret then there is less impact on market price. Here is the list of currencies that can be traded through a dark pool:

Security:

Kraken is considered a secure platform by crypto users. It never had exposure to malicious attacks since its inception.

Kraken provides security measures such as 2FA authentication using Google Authenticator or Yubikey. This protects the user’s data.

Is Kraken Legit:

Kraken exchange is a robust, ever-improving forum for making trades in crypto. It provides 24/7 support to its customers and charges a very low fee for amazing services. Hence, Kraken is recommended for people with an interest in advanced level trading. It is a legit exchange that puts customers’ needs above everything else.

To learn more about Kraken and other crypto exchanges, follow our blog.