Kraken Exchange Review

Kraken, one of the world’s oldest Bitcoin exchanges, has its headquarters located in San Francisco, U.S. It is the first cryptocurrency exchange to appear on the Bloomberg terminal. Even though Kraken exchange is not registered with any legislative board, still it is highly respected by regulated banks in the EU and the government of Japan.

It accepts members from almost all the countries in the world. It offers extremely high security for its customer’s accounts so that it will be extremely difficult for hackers to steal the coins.

This Kraken review will analyse several aspects to provide you with an all-rounded detailed overview of the exchange and its services. Although Cryptimi does its best to provide you accurate and relevant information which is updated on a regular basis, we strongly recommend for you to visit Kraken.com for any updates which might occur afterwards.

Is Kraken Exchange Safe?

Yes. When it comes to security, Kraken Exchange takes extensive measures to protect its customers’ funds. It offers multi-level protection for its customers’ accounts. Kraken offers 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) to protect its customers’ accounts from any unauthorised access. In case you lose access to your account, this exchange offers support to recover the account after verifying your identity. All the sensitive and personal information of its users is stored in an encrypted format. To further protect their data, users can make use of the GSL and Master Key features available on the exchange.

Kraken Exchange

Kraken is a digital asset trading platform which allows the users to buy, sell and margin trade cryptocurrencies. It is considered one of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange due to its high liquidity and trading volume. It works on the maker/taker model and the fees vary based on the trading pair.

How does Kraken compare to other exchanges?

Kraken Wallet

Kraken Exchange doesn’t provide a personal wallet service for its users. It stores the coins of most of its customers on cold wallets until it is transferred to another wallet or exchange. Cold wallets are completely isolated from any online system to provide better protection for customers’ funds.

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Kraken Account

To create a basic account on the Kraken Exchange, users don’t have to submit any documents and can start trading immediately after opening the account. It won’t take more than a couple of minutes to open your account on Kraken as it provides a simple and easy-to-use interface.

If you forget your account’s password, Kraken helps you to recover it quite easily. It offers five different levels (also called Tiers) for your account. To move to the next Tier, users should provide additional documents for KYC verification purposes.

How to Sign up on Kraken

To create an account on Kraken, do the following:

Navigate to their site, enter your email address, username and password on the form titled ‘CREATE AN ACCOUNT’. Click the ‘SIGN UP’ button after agreeing to the terms. Next, click the activation link on your email to activate your account. Alternatively, you can enter the activation key manually on the provided box.

Congratulations! You have now successfully created your account on the Kraken exchange.

How to Log in on Kraken

To log in to your Kraken account, follow the below steps:

Navigate to their site and click the ‘LOG IN’ button located on the top right of the home page. Then, enter your email address, password and click the ‘LOG IN’ button. If the two-factor authentication is enabled, then you need to enter the authentication code every time you log in to your account.

Verification Requirements

Kraken offers five types of verification tiers from Tier 0 to Tier 4 for its users’ accounts. The information and documents required for the various tiers are given below:

Tier 0: Email address

Tier 1: Name, DOB, Country and Phone

Tier 2: Physical address

Tier 3: Documents to prove identity and address

Tier 4: Signed application form and KYC documents

You need to provide additional documents only for Tier 3 and Tier 4 as the remaining tiers don’t require any kind of documentation.

Kraken exchange verifies the customer’s accounts much faster when compared with other exchanges. Tier 1 and 2 accounts will be verified within an hour whereas the Tier 3 and 4 accounts may take 1-5 business days for verification.

How to Buy Digital Currency on Kraken

Kraken allows its users to buy the digital currency using fiat or cryptocurrencies. Currently, it accepts the following fiat currencies: EUR, USD and CAD. Apart from fiat, Kraken Exchange allows users to buy one digital currency using another, provided that the currency pair is supported. To know all the supported currency pairs on Kraken, check the ‘Supported Cryptocurrency’ section below.

Before being able to buy any digital currency, you need to deposit funds to your Kraken account. Only those users who are holding Tier 2 or higher accounts, can deposit fiat currencies. All other users can deposit or withdraw in only digital currency. The trading fees vary based on the payment method and the digital currency which you would like to buy.

How to Buy Bitcoin (BTC/XBT) on Kraken

Login to your Kraken account. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the currency pair (Eg. XBT/EUR) that you would like to buy from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Click ‘New order’ link from your account dashboard. It shows different ways to place an order like Simple, Intermediate and Advanced. In this example, let’s choose the Simple option as the intermediate/advanced options are intended for margin/leverage trading. Then, select the type of order: Market/Limit. If the option Market is selected, then the order will be processed immediately. In case of limit orders, the order will be processed only if the market price matches with the value set for the limit. Otherwise, you must wait till the price drops or cancel the order to create a new one. (In this example, we are using Market order). Enter the amount of XBT you would like to buy. (The estimated amount of EUR will be shown on the box labelled EUR). Next, click the button ‘Buy XBT with EUR’. You will see your order details on your screen with two buttons ‘Back’ and ‘Submit Order’. Click the ‘Submit Order’ button.

Congratulations! You have placed your first order for Bitcoins. Once you receive the Bitcoins, you can transfer those to your personal wallet.

How to Buy Ethereum (ETH) on Kraken

In the previous section, the procedure for buying Bitcoins using EUR was explained in detail. Now, in this section let’s see how to buy Ethereum using Bitcoins. (ETH/XBT)

Login to your Kraken account. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the currency pair ETH/XBT from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Follows Step 3 & 4 from the previous section. Enter the amount of ETH you would like to buy. (The estimated amount of XBT will be shown on the box labelled XBT). Next, click the button ‘Buy ETH with XBT’. You will see your order details on your screen with two buttons ‘Back’ and ‘Submit Order’. Click the ‘Submit Order’ button.

Your order will be added to the order book. Once you receive the Ethereum, you can transfer those to your personal wallet.

How to Buy Ethereum Classic (ETC) on Kraken

For this example let’s consider buying Ethereum Classic with Ethereum. You can also buy Ethereum Classic with Bitcoin, but in that case you need to select the ETC/XBT pair.

Login to your Kraken account. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the currency pair ETC/ETH from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Follows Step 3 from the previous section. Enter the amount of ETC you would like to buy. (The estimated amount of ETH will be shown on the box labelled ETH). Follow steps 5 and 6 from the previous section.

Your order will be added to the order book. Once you receive the ETC coins, you can transfer those to your personal wallet.

How to Buy Litecoin (LTC) on Kraken

For this example, let’s consider buying Litecoin with Bitcoin.

Login to your Kraken account. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the currency pair LTC/XBT from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Follows Step 3 from the previous section. Enter the amount of LTC you would like to buy. (The estimated amount of XBTwill be shown on the box labelled XBT). Next, click the button ‘Buy LTC with XBT’. Click the ‘Submit Order’ button.

Your order will be added to the order book. Once you receive the Litecoins, you can transfer those to your personal wallet.

How to Buy Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on Kraken

Let’s consider buying BCH using EUR

Login to your Kraken account and be sure you have a Tier 2 or higher account. If not, submit the required documentation. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the currency pair BCH/EUR from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Follows Step 3 from the previous section. Enter the amount of BCH you would like to buy. (The estimated amount of EUR will be shown on the box labelled EUR). Next, click the button ‘Buy BCH with EUR’. You will see your Order details on your screen with two buttons ‘Back’ and ‘Submit Order’. Click the ‘Submit Order’ button.

Your order will be added to the order book. Once you receive the Litecoins, you can transfer those to your personal wallet.

How to Cash Out on Kraken

Follow the below steps to sell/cashout Bitcoin or other digital currencies on Kraken.

Login to your Kraken account. Click the ‘Trade’ tab and select the desired currency pair (Eg. XBT/EUR) from the drop-down menu located above the tab. Next, click ‘New order’ link from your account dashboard. Select the option ‘Simple’ for the type of order. Then, click ‘Sell’ tab and enter the amount of XBT you would like to sell. The estimated amount of EUR that you will receive will be shown on the box labelled EUR. Next, click the button ‘Sell XBT with EUR’. You will see your Order details on your screen with two buttons ‘Back’ and ‘Submit Order’. Click the ‘Submit Order’ button.

Congratulations! You have successfully sold your Bitcoins on the Kraken exchange. Once you receive the funds, you can withdraw that to your bank account.

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Supported Cryptocurrencies

Kraken Exchange allows users to buy, sell or trade any of the following cryptocurrencies:

Augur (REP), Bitcoin (XBT aka. BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), Dash (DASH), Dogecoin (XDG), EOS (EOS), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Gnosis (GNO), Iconomi (ICN), Litecoin (LTC), Melon (MLN), Monero (XMR), Quantum (QTUM), Ripple (XRP), Stellar/Lumens (XLM), Tether (USDT) and Zcash (ZEC).

Supported Countries

Except for a few countries, Kraken exchange accepts users from almost all over the world.

Supported

If you don’t live in any of the countries listed in the ‘Excluded’ section below, then you can go ahead to create your account on Kraken exchange to start buying/selling/trading cryptocurrencies.

Excluded

Even though Kraken welcomes members from all over the world, it doesn’t accept users who are residing in the following country due to their local regulations.