Review
Kraken is a large and reputable cryptocurrency exchange popular with retail and institutional investors. Buy and sell over 50 crypto-assets through its website or mobile trading app. Speculate on cryptocurrency prices or hedge your positions through futures. Trade with or without leverage, up to 50 times your initial margin.
- Pros
- Easy account opening.
- Outstanding customer support.
- Competitive fees, albeit not the lowest.
- Cons
- Supports fewer coins and tokens than other exchanges.
- Its mobile trading app only offers a limited set of features.
- US customers cannot fund their account with a debit card or a credit card yet.
Instant Buy Fees
Fees
Buy, sell or convert over 50 cryptocurrencies with a credit card or debit card through Kraken’s Instantly Buy service.
This is the easiest way to buy crypto, but isn't the cheapest. You'll pay fees to Kraken and to all other third parties involved in the transaction. This includes your card company (Visa or Mastercard) and bank.
On Kraken, these fees will add up to 8.9% + €0.50 if you buy any stablecoin (USDT, USDC or DAI) with USD or another stablecoin, and 9.5% + €0.50 for all other purchases. These fees are substantial and higher than that charged by most other exchanges.
We've listed these fees below to help you make an informed decision.
Kraken | |
Platform fees | 0.9% fee if you buy stablecoins, and 1.5% otherwise. |
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Visa or Mastercard fees | 3.75% + EUR 0.25 |
Digital wallet fees | 3.75% + EUR 0.25 |
Bank fees (interchange fees) | 0.5% |
Trading Fees
Fees
Buy and sell over 50 cryptocurrencies through Kraken's app and website, on competitive fees.
Kraken's trading fees follow a tiered structure: the more you've traded in the last 30 days, the lower your fees. This is true across spot and futures markets. For simplicity, the trading fees shown below are the ones you'll pay as soon as you start trading, and don't include volume-based discounts. Please visit Kraken's website for the full fee schedule.
Like most exchanges, Kraken follows a maker-taker fee schedule. Taker fees apply when your order takes liquidity away from the market, as is the case with market orders. Maker fees apply when your order adds liquidity, as is the case with limit orders. Most exchanges set maker fees lower to increase liquidity on their platform.
Kraken | |
Maker fees | 0.16% |
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Taker fees | 0.26% |
Kraken | |
Maker fees | 0.02% |
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Taker fees | 0.05% |
Margin Trading Fees
Fees
Buy and sell over 30 cryptocurrencies on margin in the spot market, and 5 in the futures market.
When you trade on margin, Kraken charges up to 0.02% when you open a position (opening fee), and up to 0.02% every 4 hours, for as long as the position is open (rollover fee). The percentage varies between 0.01% and 0.02%, depending on the cryptocurrency. These fees apply to your order’s total value, rather than just the amount borrowed. Other exchanges, such as Binance and FTX, will charge you for the amount borrowed.
Suppose you buy 1 Bitcoin for $50,000 with a $10,000 initial margin and keep your position open for exactly 24 hours, you would pay $30 in margin trading fees. This is calculated as $50,000 x 0.01% x 24 / 4. These fees are in addition to Kraken's usual trading fees, which apply whenever you open and close a position.
To help you compare margin trading fees across exchanges, we’ve converted their fees into daily equivalent rates. As fees can change from time to time, please visit Kraken.com for the latest rates.
Kraken | |
BTC | 0.06% |
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ETH | 0.12% |
USDT | 0.12% |