Kraken Review

Here Are the Kraken Pros and Cons

Kraken fact sheet

When it comes to security, this is the aspect that Kraken is not very strong at. Kraken stresses that it is an exchange, not a wallet. This means that they don’t have built-in personal wallets and do not use cold storage for security. They also don’t have third-party crime insurance policies.

They had instances in the past when users reported that their funds have gone missing and Kraken has not taken any actions to resolve this problem.

When it comes to account protection, Kraken offers users a Two-Factor Authentication method. This is a great tool to protect your account from unwanted guests and make sure no one will gain unauthorized access to your account.

When it comes to licensing and regulations Kraken has a few licenses. These licenses are:

• FinCEN of U.S
• FinTRAC of Canada
• AUSTRAC of Australia

It also has various US licenses from different states, as it operates in 48 of them.

Kraken can not brag about a huge selection of coins available on their exchange. But still, most of the big and established tokens are available for Kraken users to trade with. Here you will find more than 170 cryptos and 160 trading pairs.

This number of available tokens might seem low compared to other exchanges. But still, you will be able to trade with the most famous and big cryptos on the market. 

Kraken gives users options to trade using many different strategies. Whether you day trade with the goal to make quick profits or stake your crypto and earn rewards from them over time, you can do it on Kraken.

Kraken also has a good selection of stablecoins and with the recent crypto market crash, investors are putting a lot of money into those coins to minimize risk.

Here is a list of more well-known cryptos you can trade on Kraken:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• USDT
• Ripple
• Dogecoin
• Shiba Inu
• Solana
• Bitcoin Cash
• Cardano
• Litecoin

This is just a small list of more well-known tokens. There are more cryptos that we can trade in order to diversify our portfolio. 

We have to mention that your experience on Kraken will depend on your country of residence. Kraken is available in 176 countries and 48 states in the US. It should be noted that each country has its own regulations and laws put in place. So some tokens might not be accessible to certain countries. Payment methods also fall under this category as Kraken accepts certain payment methods from some countries and other methods from other countries.

You need to do your own research to find out what Kraken offers in your location and only after that decide if you want to, or can, use their services or not.

When we were conducting our research to write this review, we found that Kraken runs a somewhat complicated fee system. There are different fees depending on your account level. Here we will discuss the fees that you are more likely to encounter and if you want to have a deeper understanding of these fees, Kraken has a section on their website where you can see all of the fees and how each of them work.

Kraken uses the most famous maker/taker fee system. What this means is that traders who place orders to buy crypto when the price hits a certain mark pay different trading fees compared to those who buy crypto at current market prices. These fees range from 0% to 0.26%

Below we present you with a graph showing how these fees are calculated on Kraken.

Traders on Kraken have access to trade with spot trading as well as leverage and futures trading. This gives traders opportunities to implement different trading strategies and maximize their profits.

Unlike some other exchanges, Kraken does not provide a feature to swap one crypto directly for another. But they still offer P2P trading as well as an OTC (Over The Counter) desk, for those who plan on making big transactions.

Traders on Kraken are able to connect third-party trading bots such as Bitsgap to their accounts and automate their trading experience.

When it comes to Kraken's website, there are two opinions on the internet about it. One side suggests that their website is not very user-friendly, while the other side says otherwise. For us, Krakens' website is really well crafted and even inexperienced traders will be able to understand the ins and outs of the exchange. Yes, there are other exchanges that have better beginner-friendly designs, but there are also some that are way more complicated.

When we first visit the website, we are greeted with an eye-catching design. Information is laid out really neatly and we were able to find whatever we were looking for with ease. Their support center is easy to navigate and find any information that you are looking for.

Where it gets a little tricky is the exchange side of the website. At first glance, it might seem complicated with a lot of different information presented to us which might overwhelm inexperienced traders. But with a better look around it becomes more transparent, and easier to navigate. 

If we want to succeed in the crypto market, we need good educational materials. Most exchanges offer us different courses, educational videos, and many other educational materials which we can take advantage of.

Krakens’ educational sections somewhat fall behind its competitors. They do not offer trading courses, definitions of basic terminologies, and some other key materials that other exchanges offer.

What Kraken offers is crypto guides on each digital coin they have, what they are, how to buy and sell them, and other relevant information about them. They also have good video educational materials where they discuss different crypto-related topics. 

Lastly, they have their own podcasts where they discuss many different topics related to crypto.

Pros & Cons of Kraken Education

Customer support on Kraken is really well-optimized. Users should be able to easily resolve any problems they encounter and won’t spend a big amount of time looking for answers.

Their Support section on the website was built really smartly and with simplicity as the main priority. Whenever we go to the support section we are given different topics about almost everything. There we can look deeper for specific answers to questions regarding each topic.

If you are not able to find a solution to your problem, Kraken offers a live support option that is available 24/7. We are given a small box at the bottom right of the screen that has Help written on it. When we press it we are given two options, we can either call customer support or have a live chat with an agent. 

Their customer support hotline is +1 888 871 2573.

We are also able to fill out customer support forms for more complicated and time-consuming subjects. Usually, Kraken does not take too much time to respond to those forms.

When it comes to mobile trading on Kraken, we can choose from two versions of the app. One is for beginners and the other is for more advanced users. Both of those apps are well-optimized for the job they are built to do.

The beginner version of the app is built with the full understanding that people who will be using this app are not experienced traders and need a more simple and easy-to-use app As such it comes with less complicated functionality and a simple design. Here you can easily find basic information that most new traders need. 

The Pro version of the app is built with experienced traders in mind. Here you can find more complex information which is needed for more complex trading involving different and difficult trading strategies. Also, you are given more detailed information about the market and exactly what is going on.

Getting started on Kraken is a really simple process, the whole registration and verification process should not take more than a few minutes.

Step 1: Creating an account

The first thing to do when we join Kraken is to create an account. When creating an account we will be asked to provide our email address and country of residency. We also have to come up with a username and a password. 

Once we write down all the necessary information and hit the “Create Account” button, we will be asked to verify our account by the link sent to our email address. Once we do that our account will be ready for the next step

Step 2: Verifying identity 

When it comes to identity verification, Kraken has three different verification tiers. Each tier requires different documentation and lifts different limits placed on an account.

Here we will discuss the verification process at the intermediate level.

When passing this verification, we will be asked to provide some personal information, such as name and surname, residential address, and phone number.

After we provide this information, we will be asked to specify our field of operations, upload a government-issued identification document photo, and provide a payment document tied to our ID to further ensure our identity.

After we complete everything we mentioned above, it should take 2-10 minutes for verification to go through and move to the next step.

Step 3: Depositing Funds and Start Trading

The last step we have to take to start trading is to deposit funds. When depositing funds we will have two options. Deposit fiat currency from our bank balance or deposit crypto.

When depositing fiat currencies we have to navigate to the Funding page and select which fiat we want to deposit. Once selected we will be given payment options available to us. After selecting the payment method we want to use, we just deposit money and wait for our balance to update on the website. The time that it will take to update our balance will depend on the payment method we used.

If we want to deposit crypto into our account we will have two options. One is to press the Buy Crypto button at the top toolbar where the process is similar to the fiat deposit. We select which crypto we want to buy, how much, and with what method.

Another option we have is to go to the Funding page and select crypto there. We should go here if we already have crypto on another wallet or exchange and want to transfer it to Kraken. Once we select which crypto we want to deposit, we need to generate the deposit address. This option will be at the bottom left corner of the screen. Then, when we get the address, all we have to do is to send crypto to that address and wait for the blockchain to verify the transaction.

After a thorough review of Kraken, we can say that using this exchange comes down to personal preference. They are one of the most global exchanges on the market, which operates in almost every country, they have a decent selection of cryptocurrencies, reasonable fees, and a good website and mobile application. 

On the downside, they lack some security features such as crime insurance and cold storage keeping. 

So if those two things are not that important to you, Kraken is a great exchange to use. But if you are looking for something more secure then it might be better to look somewhere else.