Kraken is one of the biggest crypto exchange service on the market in terms of Euro liquidity and volume.
Was introduced by Jesse Powell, who previously worked with Mt.Gox to recover from their disastrous hacking incident. Operating since July 2011, the company established their headquarters in San Francisco, California, Kraken offers an excellent trading platform for European users or people who deal in euros. In recent years, they have tried to expand their market worldwide by making significant purchases.
Verifications
The platform has a simple verification process for low tier users. Tier one and Tier two verifications can be processed within minutes. Higher tiers require at least 2–3 days for the verification to be completed. The verification process is a must before making any deposit, transaction, and withdrawal.
Tiers
Different tiers have different features in terms of transaction and trading. Tier 1 users are only allowed to make deposits and withdrawals in crypto. In terms of trading, users are allowed to use both fiat and cryptocurrency.
For tier 1 verification, users need to provide personal information and verify their phone number. It has a daily withdrawal limit of $2,500 and a monthly limit of $20,000. There are no limits for making deposits.
Tier 2 verification requires users’ address verification. Tier 2 verified users can make deposits and withdrawals in cryptocurrency. Deposit is limited to $2,000 per day and $10,000 per month. Users are allowed to withdraw a maximum of $5,000 daily and $50,000 monthly.
Tier 3 verification is required for making deposits in US, Germany, Canada using fist currency. Users need to provide a verified National ID or Social security number. Tier 3 verification increases the monthly deposit or withdrawal limit to $200,000.
Tier 4 verification is available for both personal and corporate accounts.
Currencies Accepted
Kraken allows most of the major fiat currency, such as USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, and YEN. In case of cryptocurrency, Kraken accepts BTC, LTC, ETH, DOGE, LTC, XRP etc. The fee structure of Kraken is one of the cheapest ones available on the market. As a result, Kraken has become very popular among the cryptocurrency users. On average, Kraken charges a flat fee of 0.19% for fiat currency. Fees are even lower for cryptocurrency transaction and trading.
Fees
Kraken follows a maker-taker policy for trading fees. Basic maker fee is about 0.16% and basic taker fee is around 0.26%. The trading fee decreases with the increase of volume and it drops as low as 0% for the maker and 0.10% for the taker. Kraken users are allowed to trade in 10 different cryptocurrencies and 5 different fiat currency. The exchange doesn’t support futures or derivates trading. There are options for advanced order, limit order, leveraged positions, predefined triggers, marginal trading and short selling.
Pros
Kraken has one of the most popular websites available on the market due to its simplicity and advanced options. The interface looks absolutely friendly for new users to become acquainted with all the trading features. It also includes a 24/7 support service through chat and email responses.
Kraken is one of the best in the business when it comes to security measures. After the collapse of Mt.Gox, Kraken, reacted the fastest and provided cryptographic proof of their reserves’ security. The majority of their funds are stored in cold storage, offline and their servers are equipped with state-of-the-art security systems. The website requires 2FA and PGP encryption for any user account changes.
With a low fee, excellent liquidity, and marginal trading, they have surely become a market leader in the bitcoin exchange industry. They can improve their mobile platform service for a better user experience. But overall, it ensures one of the best and safest cryptocurrency exchange services for any new user.
