SECURITY
Hacks of cryptocurrencies have resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in coins over time.You don’t want to end up at an exchange with bad cybersecurity that could make your money open for theft.
Crypto exchange review site CER has rated Kraken’s commitment to security as the best in the industry, with a perfect score of 100.Kraken has had no major hacking incidents in its 10-year history, something that Binance, a global market leader, cannot claim.
On top of that, Kraken assures platform security: “95 percent of deposits are held offline in cold storage units around the world.” Armed guards and video monitors are on duty 24 hours a day to keep an eye on the servers.Additionally, Kraken encrypts all of your sensitive contact information at the system and data level, and routinely tests its own system for vulnerabilities.
EASE OF USE
There are no hurdles to entrance if you’re just getting started.Kraken’s four categories help you get confirmed immediately in minutes.There are specific documents that need to be evaluated manually for the highest tier, Pro.
Your account can be funded with fiat currency such as U.S.dollars once you’ve been authenticated and you’re ready to start buying cryptocurrencies.
This is possible on most major crypto platforms these days, but not all.
Due to third-party companies handling fiat fund transfers, you may end yourself owing a fee if you aren’t diligent.
Although Kraken does provide decent instructional content, you’re on your own when it comes to actual investment.
This software is now available in all 50 states, except for New York and Washington.Debit and credit card payments aren’t currently supported by the app but you can still trade using alternative payment options, such as Instant Buy.
ADVANCED INVESTING OPTIONS
There are a number of Kraken’s other options that will appeal to more knowledgeable investors.
For high net worth investors in the U.S., Kraken also offers the option of margin trading, which is a riskier form of investing in which the borrower uses his or her previous investments as collateral.If prices drop unexpectedly, margin calls might generate significant losses.On platforms available in the United States, margin trading is a less popular option as the federal government decides how to approach cryptocurrency .
When you trade with leverage, you’ll have to pay extra fees.Clients of Kraken can anticipate to pay opening margin costs and rollover margin fees, among other things.
They are assessed when you first open your position (borrow from Kraken) and make a first buy.Depending on the base currency, Kraken’s beginning costs range from 0.01 percent to 0.02 percent every trade.
Meanwhile, rollover margin fees begin to accrue four hours after your trade is opened.Afterwards, they must be reapplied every 4 hours.Also, depending on the base currency, these costs range from 0.01 percent to 0.02.
Kraken offers margin trading as well as the ability to stake certain coins.
By locking your cryptocurrency on Kraken, you agree to receive rewards when those coins are used by Kraken to verify proof-of-stake transactions.When you stake coins with Kraken, you’ll receive biweekly rewards proportional to the amount of coins you staked.
KRAKEN FEES
Kraken, like many other crypto exchanges, relies heavily on a maker-taker fee structure.If you add liquidity to the market instead of removing it, you’ll get a lower fee rate.
Investment orders that do not immediately match existing orders are charged maker fees.“Maker” is the term used to describe a cryptocurrency that creates a demand for more crypto currency.
Taker fees are charged when an investor’s order is matched with an existing order.
Since it removes an already existing coin from the market, this reduces liquidity, hence the term “taker” fee.
Until your order is actually executed, Kraken does not charge you anything.From 0.0 percent to 0.26 percent, your fee will depend on whether you are a maker or a taker (which you won’t know until the order is executed).As a maker or taker, the size of your fee is determined by your order status (such as U.S.dollar to Dogecoin, for example) as well as your 30-day trading volume (in dollars).
If you’ve traded more in the past 30 days, your fee will be lower.
A minimum trading fee may apply if you use this method to make small-value trades.There is no indication on Kraken’s website as to how much these minimum trade fees will cost you in real money.
Kraken’s Instant Buy option, which may appeal to beginners less familiar with maker/taker models, has a different set of fees.Even though Instant Buy allows you to buy crypto quickly, it comes at a much higher cost than using the Kraken trading platform, and you’d be better off learning how to use the trading platform in order to save money.
There is a 1.5 percent fee on all transactions made with Instant Buy.Use a debit or credit card and you’ll be charged 3.75 percent + €0.25 per transaction (yes, your transaction fee will be converted to euros, which may cause you to owe additional fees).
In addition to the 0.5% fee, direct cash transactions incur a 2.5% fee.For the same transaction on Kraken’s trading interface, you’d have to pay about ten times more than you would have otherwise
CRYPTOCURRENCIES ON KRAKEN
Kraken offers the following cryptocurrencies:
0x (ZRX) Aave (AAVE) Aavegotchi (GHST) Algorand (ALGO) Ankr (ANKR) Aragon (ANT) Augur (REP) Augur v2 (REPV2) Bancor (BNT) Basic Attention Token (BAT) Balancer (BAL) Bitcoin (BTC) Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Cardano (ADA) Chainlink (LINK) Compound (COMP) Cosmos (ATOM) Curve (CRV) Dai (DAI) Dash (DASH) Decentraland (MANA) Dogecoin (DOGE) Energy Web Token (EWT) Enjin Coin (ENJ) Enzyme Finance (MLN) EOS (EOS) Ethereum (ETH) Ethereum Classic (ETC) Filecoin (FIL) Flow (FLOW) Gnosis (GNO) ICON (ICX) Kava (KAVA) Keep Network (KEEP) Kusama (KSM) Kyber Network (KNC) Lisk (LSK) Litecoin (LTC) Livepeer (LPT) Maker (MKR) Mina (MINA) Monero (XMR) Nano (NANO) Ocean (OCEAN) OmiseGO OMG Orchid (OXT) PAX Gold (PAXG) Polkadot (DOT) Polygon (MATIC) QTUM (QTUM) Rarible (RARI) Ren Protocol (REN) Ripple (XRP) Siacoin (SC) Stellar Lumens (XLM) Storj (STORJ) Sushi (SUSHI) Synthetix (SNX) tBTC (TBTC) Tether (USDT) Tezos (XTZ) The Graph (GRT) The Sandbox (SAND) Tron (TRX) Uniswap (UNI) USD Coin (USDC) Waves (WAVES) Yearn Finance (YFI) Zcash (ZEC) Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links where the author may earn a commission..
