Kraken Exchange Review: Is It Reliable And Safe To Invest?

General Information Kraken Exchange

Kraken Exchange Feature Review

The Kraken exchange lists over 32 different cryptocurrencies that are available for trading against the USD and EUR (some have even more options that extend to CAD, JPY, GBP and CHF). The exchange lists over 130 different trading pairs spread across 32 cryptocurrencies and the 6 fiat currencies mentioned above. Kraken also has the facility to trade spot, margin and futures against a variety of different trading pairs.

Furthermore, the great advantage of Kraken is that it has a 24/7 support desk that you can contact, online or offline, from anywhere in the world. Along with its increased security features compared to other exchanges, one of its most prominent features is the “Dark Pool”, which allows traders to place orders secretly and hidden from public view.

Kraken Trading

Trade 32 different cryptocurrencies against 6 different fiat currencies.

You can trade 130 different trading pairs in Kraken, which cover 32 cryptocurrencies and 6 Fiat currencies. There are different trading options available for basic and advanced users and the platform makes it easy to switch between the two. You can place more than 5 different types of orders in Kraken, namely:

• Market and limit orders
• stop-loss orders
• Take Profit Orders
• Settle position orders
• Combined order types

In addition, for more advanced traders, there are other ordering options to provide more flexibility with trading, which include:

• Conditional Closure Requests
• Order start/expiration time
• P / L / Currency Preference Rate
• Post-order limit

For rates, Kraken offers a new volume-based rate schedule that determines manufacturer and borrower rates depending on how much you trade. The more you trade in a 30-day period, the lower your fees.

Manufacturer fees start at 0,16% and buyer fees at 0,26% if your trading volume is between $0 and $50.000. As you increase your volume through the stages, your maker/borrower ratios keep dropping 0,02%. So if you trade between $250.000 and $500.000 for 30 days, the manufacturer's fees are 0,10% and the borrower's fees are 0,20%.

Also, the maker/borrower fees are completely different if you are trading trading pairs based on stable currency.

Kraken offers competitive withdrawal and deposit fees

You cannot deposit with debit/credit cards at Kraken. Instead, you can choose between different bank transfer options.

The Bitcoin withdrawal fee is significantly below the industry standard as they charge a small fee of 0,0005 per Bitcoin withdrawal. For a detailed analysis of cryptocurrency fees, take a look at their fee structure for individual currencies.

For EUR deposits via SEPA transfers, the fee is €0,15 (virtually free) with a €1,00 withdrawal fee. The minimum withdrawal limit is €100.

Kraken offers up to 5x leverage in margin trading

On your foreign exchange margin, you can trade cryptocurrency with leverage ranging from 2x to 5x to boost your trades. Although it's not very high compared to other exchanges, it's still very reasonable and particularly sensible for its traders.

You can trade on margin with the following currencies on Kraken; BTC, ETH, USDT, XMR, ETC, REP, XRP and BCH.

The open rate for XBT (Bitcoin) and USDt margin trading is very small of 0,01% with the same rollover rate. For the rest of the margin cryptocurrencies, the open rate and rollover rate is 0,02%.

Get 50x leverage with Kraken futures trading

The Kraken futures platform allows traders to hedge existing spot positions without additional cryptocurrency to maximize market movements.
Its futures exchange is licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – the UK's financial regulator. Unfortunately, futures trading is not available to US citizens at this time.

You can trade futures contracts based on the following cryptocurrencies:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• Bitcoin Cash
• XRP

24/7 Kraken Support Center

Along with a multitude of highly extensive support guides, Kraken also offers a 24/7 support desk. Just go to their website and start an online chat to get in touch with one of their support staff and resolve any issues you may have from anywhere in the world.

Dark pools to hide your orders

Kraken offers a separate order book, known as the Dark Pool, which allows users to place orders that are not visible to the rest of the market. Traders in the Dark Pool will always know their own trading orders. This creates an environment in which traders can place extremely large orders without revealing their interest to the rest of the market.

Kraken Exchange Security

Kraken possibly has the highest level of security.

Kraken is considered the leader in providing security for your exchange. This is especially true considering the fact that they've never been hacked before.

For starters, 95% of all deposits are held in offline, airless cold storage wallets and distributed across different areas of the globe. All sensitive account information, including your name and address, is encrypted at the system and data level.

In addition, Kraken's servers are under 24/7 surveillance by armed guards and video monitors, making this method extremely difficult to hack. In addition, they are constantly undergoing penetration tests to analyze their systems under possible attack vectors.

Kraken mobile app analysis

Trade on the go with Kraken Pro and Kraken Futures

A major exchange is never complete without a complete mobile app, and in October 2019, Kraken launched Kraken Pro and Kraken Futures to allow users to trade cryptocurrencies on the go. Plus, if apps aren't your thing, but you still want to trade on the go, you can still access trade and manage trades through their mobile-friendly websites:

• trade.kraken.com
• futures.kraken.com

Kraken Pro allows users to trade spot and margin on the go, while Kraken Futures allows users to manage their future positions.

Is Kraken Exchange Reliable and Safe to Invest?

Exchange Kraken is often regarded as one of the safest exchange brokers in the world as they do their utmost to protect your funds (as mentioned above). The fact that Kraken has never been hacked leads to the fact that they are extremely secure.

In addition, being headquartered in San Francisco, Kraken must comply with all US laws and regulations, which further enhances the exchange's security. To add more, the exchange regularly releases transparency reports so you can be sure they are not using your deposits for their own trading / investing activities.

Kraken Review Completion

As you can see, the Kraken Exchange has a number of features that make it a particularly interesting place to trade cryptocurrencies. Taking extreme steps to protect your deposits increases the credibility of the exchange and will keep you safe, knowing you're in good hands. Also, the fact that they don't offer products that put their customers at risk (like 125x leverage – like other exchanges) adds to the fact that Kraken is really trying to take care of its users and not trying to take advantage of uneducated traders.