Kraken Exchange Review

Kraken was founded on July 2018, 2011 by Jesse Powell, the current CEO of Kraken. Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange or digital asset exchange based in the United States with operations in Canada, the European Union (EU), Japan and the US. This crypto-asset platform is owned and operated by Payward, Inc. based in San Francisco, California.

A Kraken review reveals that Kraken provides Bitcoin pricing to the Bloomberg Terminal – a computer software system provided by Bloomberg L.P. Furthermore, Kraken seems to serve the crypto space via 70+ active markets and currency pairs, including trading access to 20+ digital assets (or cryptocurrencies). Digital assets available for trading at Kraken include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Tether, EOS, Stellar, BitcoinSV, Tezos, Ethereum Classic, Cardano, Monero, Zcash, Dash, Qtum, etc.

Kraken provides a proof-of-reserves audit process that makes it possible for users of this digital asset exchange to verify that their Kraken account balances are included in Kraken’s audit. Furthermore, a review of Kraken exchange shows that their mission is to help advance the adoption of cryptocurrency by empowering investors and supporting institutions.

History shows that Kraken struggled during most part of 2017, especially during the 2017 crypto bull market, as a result of performance issues and DDoS attacks. It got so bad that Kraken CEO Jesse Powell had to apologize for the site issues in November 2017, while praising Kraken’s impeccable record.

Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities – a leading and regulated crypto exchange and index provider. This enables Kraken to offer Bitcoin futures trading with leveraging of up to 50x on futures orders.Though its problems in the past may concern some users, the exchange closed down for a month in January 2018 to update its servers and fix the issues. This shows that Kraken takes any and all issues and complaints very seriously.
Kraken features many unique and exciting functions, such as its “Dark Pool”, futures trading and its use of Kraken API. The Kraken Dark Pool is a feature where traders can conduct trades that are not visible publicly in order books. This allows for a little bit more anonymity than other exchanges.

Kraken is very user-friendly as it is an entry-level exchange. New cryptocurrency investors can start trading here with ease, as fiat currencies are supported. The fiat currencies available on the platform are USD, JPY, CAD, GBP, and EUR. Euro has the largest trading volume on the platform. Though the cryptocurrencies available on the exchange are not necessarily impressive, the most popular ones are available on the platform. These include BTC, BCH, ETH, DASH, LTC, XRP, etc.

The exchange charges different fees for takers and makers. It is known for its relatively low trading fees, which vary between 0% and 0.26%. Takers are generally charged 0.26%, while makers’ fee is 0.16%, though these fees become lower and lower as users’ trading volumes go higher. Maker fees can go as low as 0%, while takers’ can go down to 0.10%. These fees aren’t necessarily very low, as the global industry average is 0.25%. However, it does provide Kraken with significant market appeal.

As Kraken’s story started with CEO Jesse Powell’s aim to create a safer cryptocurrency exchange after seeing the hacking of Mt. Gox, the platform takes security very seriously. Funds are stored offline and the commonly used two-factor authentication system is used. Additionally, the system that is used on the platform enables staff members to only be able to access users’ accounts for data verification and nothing else. The exchange has not suffered from any issues concerning its security, which is most definitely comforting for its users. This is especially impressive when considering the fact that the exchange is one of the very first ones to be established.

One of the disadvantages of Kraken’s security system is that anonymous trading is not allowed. All accounts are verified before they can start trading for maximum security. Accounts and their verifications processes are divided into three: Starter, Intermediate, Pro. Their respective features are explained in detail on their website.

Update June 2, 2021:

Kraken Pros

Customizable options

Kraken provides its users the ability to preview the live market and apply relevant filters while trading, enabling the user to implement their trading strategy with ease and precision.

User security and service

Kraken is one of the safest exchanges. They have never successfully been targeted by hackers due to their security mechanism. Kraken is regulated in USA by FinCEN, FCA in the UK, and FinTRAC in Canada. Any suspicious activity taking place on the exchange gets noticed immediately, and relevant actions are taken to eliminate it. Users are assured full reimbursement of their fund through Kraken’s millions of dollars of bitcoin holdings kept in reserve as insurance. They provide value to their clients through various services such as 24/7 email support, along with live chat option available both on their app and their mobile-friendly website.

Kraken key features

• Allows staking, providing users an option to earn staking rewards twice a week through the POS mechanism of transaction verification. Kraken also supports buying and selling of over 51 cryptocurrencies, and exchange of over 130 crypto-crypto and crypto-fiat pairs.
• To avoid any disruption to the market, Kraken offers any user who want to do a single trade over $100k the OTC service. This transaction is discreet, secure, and ultra-competitive.
• Users gets rewarded by Kraken in the form of KFEE (Kraken Fee Credits) deposited directly into the user’s account. These credits can be used to pay for any charges/fee levied by Kraken when processing a transaction, or any other service offered on the exchange.
• Kraken offers margin trading. While using leverage can be risky, it is a highly desirable feature for some traders.
• To make settlement reliable and appropriate, Kraken provides up-to-the-second pricing, allowing users to make an informed decision at all times on the current market. Day traders can use the real-time charting service Crypto Watch to anticipate the movements in the market.
• Unlike other exchanges Kraken offers a state-of-the-art white glove feature which assigns a representative to the respective user’s account. This representative is at the user’s disposal 24/7 via phone/email/texts etc. assisting them with any questions and requests.

Kraken Cons

• The exchange is more oriented towards experienced users with many terms and abbreviations used on the platform confusing and difficult to understand for new users. To increase the withdrawal limit, the user needs to go through a lengthy verification. The website can move very slowly during this verification process, which can lead to frustration for traders as a delay of seconds can result in a loss on held positions.
• Users cannot deposit or withdraw funds directly in Kraken using debit/credit cards unless they are from Canada. This discourages many beginners who primarily use those method to kickstart their trading portfolio. Users outside of Canada will need to use a bank transfer to deposit fiat funds which can take up to 5 days; for US customers, this option is not available for Starter-level users.
• Kraken is not available in some markets such as Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, and NY and WA state. In some other countries, such as Lebanon and Somalia, users can create account but may not be able to add funds.  Some users may have concerns about why these countries are restricted, and why Kraken is not willing to go through the regulatory process to operate in NY and WA.
• The Kraken demo account doesn’t include the feature of having a virtual balance. This means users cannot actually get a full understanding of the workings of the exchange and how to perform trades before trading with real money.
• The lack of an order book limits the transparency one expects from a crypto exchange, and creates room for price discrepancies.