Kraken is a San Francisco-based Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange owned by Payward, Inc. Kraken is a general Bitcoin exchange and trading platform, meaning that they are focused on building their system for active traders rather than just people who want to acquire Bitcoin. They work with altcoins, but it is not their focus.They exchange the following cryptocurrencies, payment units, and national currencies:
- Bitcoin (XBT)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Dogecoin (XDG)
- Namecoin (NMC)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Ven (XVN)
- EUR (Euro)
- USD (US Dollar)
- KRW (Korean Won)
Fees
Fees to buy and sell bitcoins on this exchange vary by volume and the types of pairs traded. For instance, the bitcoin USD exchange fee is roughly 0.30 percent initially, and the XBT/LTC fee starts at 0.20 percent. The USD/XRP is 0.10 percent initially. Volume results in fee decreases over most pairs. Extremely high volume can result in fees of 0.05 percent.
The final price of bitcoins includes not just trading fees but other fees as well. For instance, there are conversion, slippage and withdrawal and deposit fees. The latter fees on this exchange are 0.19 percent.
Security
- Awesome, fast verification process that is very clearly outlined.
- Heavily focused on appropriate KYC/AML while also remaining customer-focused and promoting simplicity and ease of access.
- Graphic image at login page based on your IP as a phishing check.
- 2FA is strongly recommended to customers, but they also do MUCH more.
- Username / Public ID. Your account is given a public, shareable key so that you can keep your login name secure while still interacting with other accounts.
- The only exchange I’ve seen that offers the ultimate security feature: PGP encrypted e-mails. I hope every exchange begins offering this feature in the future. It’s an excellent way of ensuring that your e-mail is very, very hard to compromise, and, as such, so is your Kraken account. PGP is a little technical for most users, but it shows that the people who built Kraken know what they’re doing when it comes to security.
- Customizable auto-logout feature
“Global Settings Lock”: This feature allows your to ‘lock’ your account, preventing any settings or personal details from being changed, and hiding sensitive info. When you enable it, you set an amount of time it takes for it to disable successfully. The default is three days. Simply another brilliant security measure made accessible to the average user.
Platform
Despite offering advanced order types, Kraken still offers a professional and simple interface. Users can choose their preferred view (intermediate or advanced) depending on their requirements. It can be confusing that Kraken has its own naming conventions. For example, on Kraken BTC is known as XBT. Lastly, the website only runs well on desktop as it is not fully responsive. Mobile users on iOS can use the available app, but this one does not include trading options. Performance analysis tools and research amenities are not present. Following common practices, accounts can be secured with two-factor authentication.
Support
With an extensive trading guide and FAQ, Kraken does just intensively cover all of the website’s functionalities. The documentation also offers a lot of additional information on cryptocurrencies and trading related terminology. It therefore has a lot of educational value. Compared to the documentation, the support availability is a bit limited. Support can be contacted through email, which is the only way possible.