Kraken Review Summary
In almost ten years of proving crypto exchange services, Kraken has been considered a veteran in the industry with its advanced trading platform, margin trading, and OTC options. It has offered trading services throughout its career and has gained the approval of many clients.
However, the exchange is not a stranger to controversies as it had once been criticized for being an unstable platform. Since receiving public criticism, it has evaluated its services and improved for the better. It prioritized client security and customer support, as well as providing the lowest trading fees possible.
That is a summary of Kraken as a crypto exchange platform. The rest of the article will delve into a more detailed discussion of the following topics:
- Kraken Overview
- Kraken Services
- Currencies and Payment Methods
- Kraken Fees
- Supported Countries
- Customer Support and Reviews
- Kraken vs. Coinbase
- Conclusion – Is Kraken Legit?
A. Kraken Overview
The Kraken cryptocurrency exchange is popular among investors due to its low transaction fees, a variety of features, and solid security. When Mt. Gox collapsed due to the infamous Bitcoin heist, Kraken assisted in the reimbursement of the clients through processing claims.
The Kraken exchange operates throughout the United States except in the city of New York due to BitLicense and in Canada, Japan, and countries under the European Union.
The crypto exchange was launched in 2013. Since its establishment, it has raised over $100 million. Its latest round closing was in February 2019. Kraken claims to have high liquidity, high-level security measures, and live customer support that is available 24/7.
Kraken employs full control of its customers’ funds. Additionally, Kraken engages an independent cryptographically-verified audit to demonstrate its transparency in handling client funds both to third parties and customers.
B. Kraken Services
In Kraken’s trading platform, clients can choose from many advanced features, including margin and spot trading. The interface supplies a wide range of features, albeit not friendly for novice traders.
Note: Spot and Margin trading is an advanced type of crypto trading. If you are a beginning crypto trader, use it with caution.
For high-volume trades ranging more than $100 thousand, Kraken provides an option for OTC (Over the Counter) services with one-on-one interaction. Moreover, these high-volume trades are commonly granted a personal account manager to assist them in their trading decisions.
Kraken has a dark pool, which is a private forum of financial instruments where the trader can place orders only he/she can see. This private exchange allows clients to trade without exposing themselves until the trade is executed.
Outsized orders usually induce the market to move in an unfavorable way, which makes it harder to fill the order at a favored price. This kind of movement can be avoided when the client is in a dark pool.
C. Currencies and Payment Methods
Kraken also accepts fiat currencies such as the Euro, US dollar, and Canadian dollar.
Clients can deposit funds and withdraw it via SWIFT, SEPA, domestic, and wire transfers. Typically, deposits and withdrawals take 1-5 business days to process.
Deposit typically takes 24 hours and free of charge when depositing cryptocurrencies included in the list of accepted crypto by Kraken. However, in some cases, it requires a small address setup fee.
Depositing SEPA is guaranteed to be free, giving a certain convenience and advantage to investors within EU countries as well as locations under SEPA.
Bank wire transfers in the United States charges a fee of $5-$10, while areas outside the US charge €10 or £10.
The cryptocurrencies acknowledged by Kraken are as follows:
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Monero (XMR)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Zcash (ZEC)
- Gnosis (GNO)
- Augur (REP)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- Dash (DASH)
- Melon (MLN)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- EOS (EOS)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Tezos (XTZ)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Stellar Lumens (XLM)
- Cosmos (ATOM)
- Tether (USDT)
- Iconomi (ICN)
- Qtum (QTUM)
D. Kraken Fees
The fees charged by Kraken are among the lowest in major bitcoin exchange platforms. The platform charges each client their fee depending on the last 30 days’ trading volume. Generally, the fees are dependent on the maker-taker system.
Makers who put additional limit orders will pay a considerably lower amount than takers who execute the orders.
The fees are listed as follows:
- Spot trading: 0.26%-0.06%
- Stablecoin trading: 0.2%-0%
- Dark pool: 0.36%-0.2%
E. Supported Countries
Kraken offers its services globally except in the following countries:
- Iran
- Afghanistan
- Japan
- Tajikistan
- Cuba
- Iraq
- North Korea
For traders within the United States, Kraken provides its services except for traders located in the state of Washington and New York.
Customer Support and Reviews
Aside from the many features and advantages of the website’s platform, it also offers a broad support guide. This covers various areas, such as account verification and trading. The guide will encompass almost everything related to trading and to the Kraken exchange platform, which ensures that clients will get the assistance they need.
In cases when the client needs one-on-one support, he or she can submit a support ticket accessible on the page. Once your ticket is picked up by the support team, you can have a one-on-one live chat with a customer representative.
The general public’s opinion on Kraken is that it is a good crypto exchange, especially because of cheap fees, sophisticated features, and reliable security.
However, despite the good public opinion on Kraken, it has also been in the spotlight many times due to criticism. The exchange platform has received a poor rating on TrustPilot.
The exchange seems solid, overall. The platform has been improved, alongside with the support service and platform stability.
Kraken vs. Coinbase
Kraken has many similarities with another crypto exchange platform called Coinbase, which is also a big US-based exchange that is commonly referred to as CoinbasePro.
The two exchanges are similar in the areas of fee structure and various services, namely: margin trading, over-the-counter option, and account management. Coinbase only differs in the lesser variety of crypto available.
Regarding support and assistance, Kraken invests more effort and emphasis on customer and trading support than Coinbase. If the crypto you are looking to trade is available on both sites, you can contemplate on the other factors that suit your preference best as it seems that the two platforms do not differ as much.
H. Conclusion—Is Kraken Legit?
With Kraken’s high-level features and services, it is only fair to claim that the crypto exchange is a good choice for any trader. But due to its certain level of complexity, it might not work best for traders who are only beginning their careers.
Overall, the crypto exchange platform is professional and established in the industry. It has a favorably good reputation with clients that remain loyal to it. It seems that the exchange will continue to thrive as a crypto platform.
