HomeWikiKraken exchange, the guide: how it works and how to use it

Kraken exchange, the guide: how it works and how to use it

Kraken exchange, the guide

Kraken is one of the most famous and used exchanges in the world.

The platform is expanding significantly on the market. They recently acquired the startup Crypto Facilities which operates a regulated futures trading platform. The value of the acquisition was about $100 million.
The exchange is also selling its shares to raise funds. According to data collected by BnkToTheFuture, the platform that Kraken is using to raise funds, investors have already contributed over $9 million out of a total target of about 15.4 million.

There are dozens of cryptocurrencies and trading pairs available on Kraken. One of the advantages of Kraken is that, unlike other exchanges, there is no minimum deposit required to activate the account: registration is free.
It is actively supported by industry leaders such as Money Partners Group, Blockchain Capital and Digital Currency Group. Over the years, the company has expanded to include Cryptowatch, Coinsetter and Clevercoin, three of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and information hubs.
This is a solid and consolidated reality:

Kraken is a company based in San Francisco (USA), where it has been operating since 2011, one of the oldest in the industry;
This is one of the most reliable exchanges ever: to date, it has never been hacked;
It allows margin and leverage trading on specific currency pairs;
Short timeframes for the withdrawal of funds;
Fees consistent with those of other exchanges;
Kraken operates with servers located in the United States of America, Europe and Japan.

First step: account registration
The first step is to go to the Kraken website and click on “Create account”.

kraken exchange guide

It is necessary to fill in the form with the requested data and confirm the activation of the account by clicking on the link received by e-mail. After that, the registration is completed.
The first thing Kraken requires is the 2-FA configuration, you can use Google Authenticator (downloadable from the Android Play Store or the Apple App Store) or a hardware key such as Yubikey.

kraken exchange guide

It is necessary to enter personal details. In the “Get Verified” section, you can verify your account. Kraken requires various information (name, surname, date of birth, telephone number, etc.) before allowing the deposit of cryptocurrencies or FIAT money. KYC and AML legal compliance are required. There are three different levels of verification, all of which increase the amount of money you can deposit (and withdraw).

kraken exchange guide

The basic level is “Starter” and offers unlimited deposit of cryptocurrencies, while the maximum amount that can be withdrawn per day is $5000. It is not possible to deposit or withdraw FIAT money. With the “Intermediate” level it is possible to deposit and withdraw both cryptocurrencies and FIAT money. The “Pro” level is the highest and raises the thresholds for deposits and withdrawals to several million.
To switch from Starter to Intermediate you must provide:

Identity card
Proof of residence
Photo
Occupation

To switch from Intermediate to Pro you must provide:

AML verification
Additional documents proving the origin of the money

Deposit and Withdraw
In the top right menu you can access the various sections of the exchange:
Trade
Deposit
Withdraw
Security
Settings
History
Get Verified

Each section is divided into several sub-sections.

Deposit and withdrawal
In order to make a deposit you need to go to the Deposit section, this is not allowed if you have not entered your personal details. To deposit you must choose a cryptocurrency and click on “Generate a new address”. This generates the address of your wallet on Kraken for that specific currency.
It is possible to send an amount less than or equal to the daily limit, depending on the “Tier” steps undertaken. Fees depend on the bank and the minimum transfer is 50 euros.

kraken exchange guide

How to withdraw from Kraken? It’s as simple as depositing. Let’s say you want to withdraw a certain amount of ETH. The procedure is as follows:

Access the Withdraw section;
Select the “Ether (ETH)” option in the respective menu;
Click on “Add Address” to add the address of the wallet to which you want to send the Ether;
Set the amount to be withdrawn.

To withdraw EUR the procedure is similar but you will obviously have to provide the bank details.

Kraken, the interface
While the interface of other exchanges such as Bitfinex, Binance or Coinbase Pro provides the ability to place orders with the adjacent chart, the interface of Kraken is divided into “Account” and “Charts”. To place an order you must go to the Trade section and select the New Order item.

Alternatively, you can try the new interface called Kraken Pro that allows placing an order using the chart and the form.

You can enter different types of orders:

Market order is an order that allows instantly buying or selling a certain amount of cryptocurrencies at market price;
Limit order is an order that allows buying or selling only when the price of the cryptocurrency reaches the selected threshold;
Stop Loss is an order type that allows setting a price at which you want to sell an asset in order to avoid going into a loss;
Take profit allows to automatically close the open trade once it has reached a predetermined level, thus making a certain profit. Its function can be considered opposite to that of the stop loss as it limits the gains while the stop loss limits the losses;
Settle position is an order type that is used to close positions that are currently open, i.e. it opens an opposite order to the current ones, it is used by people who use leverage and experiences open orders without the assigned tokens.

Kraken allows trading over 20 different cryptocurrencies, here’s the complete list. Trading fees vary with volume and are consistent with other exchanges.

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