Kraken Review: Why it’s Good, but We Don’t Recommend it in Singapore

Kraken is a crypto exchanging platform that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies worldwide.

Released in 2011, Kraken is one of the earliest crypto exchange platforms available in most countries.

There is also a wide range of coins with competitive exchange rates, making Kraken an excellent option for advanced and novice users.

This article offers an in-depth review of the Kraken exchange platform to determine if it’s worth considering.

Cryptocurrencies Available on Kraken

Kraken currently supports 138 cryptocurrencies.

You are most likely to find most of the popular options, such as:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Cardano (ADA)
• Dogecoin (DOGE)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Polkadot (DOT)
• Polygon (MATIC)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Stellar Lumens (XLM)
• Solana (SOL)
• Sushi (SUSHI)
• Uniswap (UNI)

It is important to note that not all currencies may not be available in every country.

Click here to see availability in your country.

Kraken Features

Kraken has an array of features that benefits both novice and experienced users. Kraken’s most valuable and unique features are given below:

Staking coins

Like other popular crypto exchange platforms, Kraken also allows you to earn up to 23% yearly rewards on your cash and cryptocurrency investments.

With only a few clicks, you may start staking and collecting rewards twice a week with no penalties on unstaking at any point in time.

You may earn interest varies significantly between currencies, with popular tokens like Ethereum going for an average yearly interest rate of around 4-7%, while lesser-known coins like Kava going for over 23%.

Here are the coins you can stake and the rates they’re currently going for.

Staking on-chain lets you stake your assets using blockchain Proof of Stake protocols like Tezos, whilst staking off-chain allows you to stake your assets using Kraken internal programs.

Only qualifying nations have access to off-chain staking.

Margin Trading

Trading cryptocurrency on Kraken is a simple process, and most people will get a hold of the basics in no time. But advanced users who are well versed in the crypto world can engage them in crypto trading.

Margin trading allows you to increase the size of your profits and losses from market movements, allowing you to execute more complicated, aggressive trading methods.

You may utilise Kraken’s powerful trading engine to purchase or sell a range of cryptocurrencies with up to 5x leverage using Kraken’s extensions of margin.

Margin trading allows you to execute spot cryptocurrency purchases and trades on the Kraken exchange using money that may exceed your current account balance.

Margin trading is a complex feature, but Kraken makes it extremely easy and accessible for anyone to start margin trading with just a couple of clicks.

It is important to note that not all cryptocurrencies are eligible for margin trading; Here’s the complete list of available tokens.

Liquidity

The ease with which an item may be purchased or sold at a consistent price on a specific market is referred to as liquidity. The more liquid an exchange is, the faster you can sell an item for as close to your asking price as feasible.

The world of crypto is constantly changing, and you have to be swift to move in and out of the market quickly to maximise your profits. Kraken provides high volume trading options with various advanced tools to help with liquidity trading.

Futures

Futures is an agreement between 2 parties to buy and sell a set quantity of an underlying coin at a predetermined future price. They provide you access to a wide selection of cryptocurrencies without requiring you to possess them.

Individuals and organisations who hold cryptocurrencies can utilise futures to protect themselves against market fluctuations.

Kraken exchange offers a variety of collateral options and superior flexibility when it comes to futures trading. And despite your choice of crypto, you can easily convert any profits into your desired choice of currency.

The multi-collateral wallet allows you to manage all of your holdings with a range of collateral kinds without shifting monies around.

For instance, you may establish a DOT/USD, utilise USDT as collateral, and convert any profits to bitcoin.

Indices

For advanced users, real-time indices and spot rates are critical, and Kraken offers second-by-second updated data across all sources.

Indices and spot rates are created using order book data from the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, providing complete and real-time pricing of aggregate demand for a coin.

They allow users to label portfolios, manage risk, and do so with little danger of manipulation.

CF Benchmarks is a major producer of institutional-grade indexes that encourage price transparency in cryptocurrency marketplaces.

This collection of exchanges’ real-time indexes and spot rates are updated every second to create a single, complete price. As a result, you may invest with confidence, knowing that our price is a constant indication of market value.

Reference rates and settlement prices are calculated using transaction data from various cryptocurrency exchanges and are updated once a day, every day of the year, and used to power all Kraken Futures Contracts.

The techniques are the most trustworthy source of crypto benchmark pricing and have been devised to reduce the likelihood of manipulation.

Cryptowatch

Cryptowatch is a premium trading terminal created by Kraken that offers over 25 cryptocurrency exchanges with real-time market data.

Cryptowatch works by retrieving real-time data from over 4,000 markets through APIs and aggregating the data to help users make informed decisions.

Cryptowatch is free to use but offers additional features on a paid plan. Some of the basic features Cryptowatch offers are:

• From a single terminal, you may trade on various exchanges for free.
• On the Portfolio page, you can see your trade history, orders, open positions, and more.
• In the toolbox, you can talk to other traders.
• On a refined charting interface, see price movements and evaluate market patterns.
• Use common tools and indicators to analyse charts, such as Moving Averages, MACD, RSI, and Bollinger Bands.
• You may see your current balances across several exchanges in real-time on the Portfolio tab.
• You may set price, volume, and technical analysis alerts on your charts.
• Make your themes and save them.

Some premium feature includes:

• Price, volume, technical analysis, and order information will be sent to you as notifications every 24 hours.
• With Market Data, you can keep track of pricing and order books. API for WebSockets
• With the Cryptofinance.ai plugin, you may import market data into Google Sheets.
• Zapier connection allows you to automate orders and notifications using triggers and actions.

Kraken OTC Desk

Trading outside the open Kraken exchange is known as over-the-counter (OTC).

People who want to make high volume trades, that could disrupt the open market can benefit from our deeper liquidity and private, more customised service.

The OTC desk will offer you execution and settlement services that are discrete, secure, and ultra-competitive.

Members of the OTC desk have worked at major financial organisations and have extensive trading expertise.

As an OTC customer, you will get many privileges, including daily market recaps and professional desk comments to help you with your trade.

Here are the fiat currencies and digital assets supported by the OTC desk.

Fiat currencies:

• US Dollars (USD)
• Euros (EUR)
• Canadian Dollars (CAD)
• Japanese Yen (JPY)
• British pounds (GBP)
• Swiss francs (CHF)
• Australian Dollars (AUD)

Digital assets:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Tether (USDT)
• Monero (XMR)
• Ethereum Classic (ETC)
• Augur (REP)
• And more…

Account management

Clients who trade on our platform on a regular basis will be allocated a personal account representative.

Your account manager, as your primary point of contact at Kraken, will personally answer all of your inquiries and requests, allowing you to focus on trading rather than dealing with issues.

There are a number of ways you can connect with your account manager, including direct phone calls, email or text, or instant messaging apps of your choice like a line or WhatsApp.

Kraken reserve the rights on who qualifies for Account Management services, but you can contact their team to see if you qualify for it.

Kraken Learn

Crypto trading can be a complex topic for most people, and Kraken offers helpful articles, podcasts, and videos to help you understand the complex crypto terms and simplify the whole process.

We have found the articles to be particularly helpful, covering basic topics as well as more advanced ones.

Kraken NFT

NFTs have been a hot topic ever since their inception in 2017. As more and more companies are onboarding the hype train, Kraken is no different, and they are releasing their very own Kraken NFT marketplace.

You can join their waitlist now with details of more features expected to come out in future.

Kraken Pro

For advanced users, Kraken offers an active trading platform that has all the advanced tools you would need.

The interface may look intimidating for beginners but advanced to pro users will appreciate the granular control they can have over the interface and use the data to make informed decisions.

Kraken Pro is available in both web and mobile versions, so you can enjoy its features whether you are on your desk or on the move.

Anyone can join Kraken Pro and the app is free to download on both Android and iOS. But the most crucial trait of Kraken Pro is its lower fees. You will be paying less for the same trade done in Kraken Pro, than in the main interface.

Mobile Application

The official Kraken app is ideal for newcomers to cryptocurrency or experienced traders wishing to trade easily while on the road. Kraken comes with a dedicated mobile application for both IOS and Android devices.

Features currently available for Kraken:

• Purchase using a credit card or ACH internet banking.
• Keep an eye on the market and keep track of your investments.
• Sort the results by top winners or losers.
• Keep track of your favourite cryptocurrencies.
• Purchase a certain amount (e.g., €20, €50, or €100).
• Beautiful, user-friendly design

Features available for Kraken Pro users:

• Power users will benefit from this professional trading experience.
• If eligible, margin trading with up to 5x leverage is available.
• Various types of advanced orders
• Options for charting and order book display
• Existing crypto and cash addresses can make deposits and withdrawals.
• Cryptocurrencies with and without a stake

The app is available in all countries except Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Cuba, Iran, Japan, North Korea, and Syria. However, debit or credit card purchases may not be supported in all of them.

Kraken Fee structure

One of the main reasons for Kraken’s massive popularity is its transparent and competitive fee structure. Here is a detailed breakdown of fees Kraken charges:

Cryptocurrency deposit fees

The majority of cryptocurrency deposits are free in Kraken as long as you deposit the minimum required amount.

This amount varies widely between currencies; click here to see the detailed list of the minimum deposit amounts of different coins.

But there is an exception to this rule for cryptocurrencies based on Ethereum-based tokens like AVAX and EWT.

These tokens are stackable, so you can make multiple deposits, and if the total amount of these deposits exceeds the minimum amount, you will see a reflection of it in your Kraken account.

Some of the available tokens in Kraken may have a one-time address setup fee applied to the first deposit made to a newly created deposit address.

Because ERC-20 tokens utilise the same single address within your account, the address setup cost will only be charged once at the first creation.

Fiat deposit/funding fees

Kraken currently supports 7 fiat currencies, including the popular ones like USD, CAD, AUD, and GBP. All currencies have a number of free deposit methods, given you deposit above the deposit minimum.

Click here to see cash deposit fees, minimum deposit threshold, and average processing time.

You can also deposit money using your debit or credit card for all currencies. But debit or credit card option for clients in the USA is currently unavailable. However, ACH online banking is available for US clients.

Debit or credit card has a bank fee of 3.75% + €0.25 fee deducted from the amount you want to deposit. Before you finalise the transaction, you will see the full breakdown of fees on the confirmation page. The usual 1.5% Kraken fee will be deducted afterwards.

The minimum amount you can deposit using your card is €10 or an equivalent amount from a different currency, while the maximum is €7,500 every week.

Cryptocurrency withdrawal fees

Each withdrawal has a minimum requirement and a flat charge to cover the expenses of getting your crypto out of your Kraken account.

Click here to see the full list of withdrawal fees.

Fiat withdrawal fees

Kraken supports the following currencies: USD, GBP, CAD, AUD, EUR, CHF, and JPY.

Each of these currencies has its unique withdrawal fees; some of the popular withdrawal options of fiat currencies are as follows:

Kraken Trading Fees

For every crypto trade you make on the Kraken exchange platform, you will be subjected to a trading fee ranging from 0% to 0.26% of your order’s overall cost (value).

Kraken has several fee structures that most traders can benefit from.

Some of these options are as follows:

Kraken Instant Buy

On the Kraken website or the Kraken app, you can buy, sell, and convert Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in real-time.

There is a 0.9% fee for any stablecoins (Tether, USD Coin, and Dai) or a 1.5% fee for any other crypto or FX pair.

There is also an additional 3.75% Digital Wallet Payments Processing Fee that is added to every transaction.

Kraken Pro

As we already discussed, Kraken Pro offers lower fees compared to the regular Kraken platform. If you are trading on the regular platform, a flat 1.5% fee will be deducted.

But in Kraken Pro, the price is significantly low but can vary depending on your trade volume.

There is a special fee schedule that applies to FX pairs (EUR/USD), stablecoins in the base currency (USDT/USD, DAI/USDT, etc.) and pegged tokens.

Details of the fee structure are given below.

When a trade order is matched instantly it is referred to as Taker and if not matched it is referred to as maker. Fees for taker and maker are slightly different as illustrated in the table above.

Margin fees

At the opening and closure of margin positions, all margin costs are applied in addition to trading fees.

Futures fees

The Kraken Futures charge structure offers volume incentives based on your prior 30 days of futures trading activity. A detail of the fee structure is given below:

There are no fees associated on Kraken exchange on

• Transferring funds to and from the Futures wallet
• Staking
• Storing funds
• Account inactivity
• Account maintenance

Kraken Customer Support

One of the most important factors when it comes to crypto exchange platforms is how well it responds to customer queries.

You can have the best platform in the world, but if it does not quietly support the customer promptly, it will ruin the experience for its users.

While most crypto exchanges falter in this criteria, Kraken does moderately well. Responses from the support team are reasonably quick, with few exceptions from time to time.

These findings are reflected in the Trustpilot score, which is not great, but at least Kraken reaches out to customers to solve any of their issues.

Kraken also provides priority customer support for its pro clients with a dedicated account manager designated for certain clients making high volume transactions.

This is a welcome change, and traders serious about their trading can get instant support through instant messaging services.

Overall, when compared to other established crypto exchanges, Kraken does reasonably well, but there is still room for improvement.

Is Kraken Safe?

Security is an essential factor in choosing the right exchange platform, and Kraken does not disappoint by providing Industry-leading security to protect your investments.

You will get the basic security features you would expect, like two-factor authentication and blocking your account temporarily if you notice any unauthorised transaction on your account.

Kraken also keeps more than 95% of its deposits in cold storage, which is kept offline and geographically distributed to maximise security.

Kraken also promises to keep all your personal data end to end encrypted so that even during a data breach, your personal information is not leaked.

Kraken also has an extensive penetration testing and bug bounty program to leverage the expertise of the community to flag any vulnerabilities.

Although it is hard to verify all these claims for most of us, thankfully, as of April 2022, the Kraken exchange has not faced any major data breaches.

Opening a Kraken Account

Getting started with Kraken is similar to any other crypto platform. It simply takes a few minutes to set up your account if you have all your information available.

When you join, you’ll need to supply contact information such as your name, address, phone number, and Social Security (or NRIC for our fellow Singaporeans).

This information is part of the banking industry’s “know your customer” (KYC) regulations. You can be assured that your personal information is safe and will not be sold to a third party for financial gains.

Additionally, you may need to give more details, such as a copy of a government photo ID and a photo of yourself holding that ID, to validate your account and access all trading capabilities.

You’ll have restricted account functioning unless you add this information, and failure to provide adequate information may limit you from making a withdrawal.

So, it’s in your best interest to make sure you set everything up before you start trading.

There are three types of KYC accounts you can open in Kraken, and they are as follows:

Starter: You can deposit, exchange, and withdraw cryptocurrencies with this account, but you can’t do anything else. It is not possible to withdraw money in fiat currency without upgrading.

Intermediate: You’ll need a valid picture ID; this can be your passport, driver’s license or any government-issued card.

You will also be required to show proof of your residence with a copy valid utility bill. For customers in the US, you may also be required to provide your Social Security number to upgrade to an Intermediate or Pro account.

You will only be eligible to deposit and make withdrawals in fiat currency once you provide the following documents.

Pro: Kraken’s pro-level gives you access to all the exchange platform’s advanced features, including over-the-counter desk (OTC) support and larger account limits. Large orders are processed through the desk without triggering price disruptions on the main exchange.

Pros of Kraken: What we like

Kraken cryptocurrency exchange is a good choice for seasoned investors who want to make use of complex features like margin trading. Here are some of the top perks:

Security

Kraken is a US-based crypto exchange that adheres to all the rules and regulations set by the regulatory bodies. In addition to that, Kraken is one of the oldest and most secure platforms in the market, with no significant data breaches to date, making Kraken a safe and secure platform.

Range of cryptocurrencies

Kraken offers an extensive list of 138 cryptocurrencies and 7 fiat currencies, and you are most likely to find all the popular options.

Advanced trading features

Kraken has advanced features like Cryptowatch, OTC rates, Futures, Liquidity, margin trading, and much more.

Reasonable fees

We love Kraken’s fee structure; it’s not the cheapest but offers the best balance between features and price.

Priority support

The world of crypto moves fast, so Kraken assigns a dedicated accounts manager who provides instant support through phone calls or instant messaging for folks who need an instant response.

Cons of Kraken: Things we are not a fan of

Not for beginners

For investors who are new to crypto trading, Kraken has several valuable instructional materials. Individual currency instructions and a series of explanatory movies are also included.

The platform, however, is geared toward more experienced traders because of its complex features; beginning investors will find it tough to adjust to so many currencies and so much functionality.

Lack of personal wallet

Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange. It does not attempt to provide savings accounts or loans. It doesn’t even come with a separate (DeFi) wallet that you can keep your cryptos in.

Is Kraken right for you?

While Kraken provides tools, products, and information for new crypto investors, most of its services are geared at more experienced investors.

Kraken offers a reasonably priced experience if you’re comfortable with a more complicated interface and want access to many investment alternatives.

Bottom Line: Is Kraken worth checking out?

Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges and provides a bit of everything for crypto investors and an array of tools for more advanced users.

While its costs are not always the cheapest, Kraken offers reasonable fees, which start as low as 0.10% for its Pro users.

Kraken also emphasises its security and has placed numerous safety features to protect your investments and your privacy. Thankfully there have not been any significant glitches to date, but it will be interesting to see how it plans out in the future.

Although Kraken has some negative user evaluations, it also appears to be proactive in reaching out to clients with problems.

It also provides live chat assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so consumers may obtain help whenever they need it.

Overall, Kraken is an excellent alternative for experienced traders who seek minimal costs and access to margin trading, liquidity, and futures trading.

Kraken provides extra security features for investors and allows users to purchase, sell, and trade their chosen cryptocurrency in a secured environment.

We’ve also listed them as the best crypto exchange for advanced traders.

However, we due to the high fees involved, we don’t really recommend it unless the feature you want is only available on Kraken.

Otherwise, there are better ones, such as FTX and KuCoin.

Also, you don’t have as much flexibility in spending and withdrawing your crypto. This makes it difficult for mass adoption, which they need to consider, especially if they want to attract more crypto beginners.

This is why if you’re a beginner in crypto, we recommend Crypto.com instead.