Kraken Review: Trusted and Secure, Just Don’t Expect Great Service

Kraken was founded in 2011 in San Francisco and has since grown to establish offices worldwide. It operates in more than 190 countries, and its services include support for individual and institutional investors.

Beginners can access the main Kraken platform, which offers a simplified layout but has higher fees, while Kraken Pro offers advanced margin and futures features for experienced traders.

Along with its selection of 300+ cryptocurrencies – which includes top tokens like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP, and Solana (SOL) – Kraken also supports several of the leading stablecoins, including USDT, USDC, and Dai, along with eight fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, and GBP.

Deposits at Kraken can be made using a bank account, debit card, or cryptocurrency.

Withdrawals can be made via cryptocurrency or supported fiat currencies, but some fees are involved. Taking coins out of Kraken includes a transaction fee, depending on the blockchain in question. 

USD withdrawals to a U.S. bank account are free via ACH, and the process can take up to two business days to complete. Withdrawals to a credit card, debit card, or third-party payment processor are not allowed. Also of note, if you buy crypto using fiat deposited via a credit or debit card, it may trigger a 72-hour withdrawal hold to ensure receipt of the original funds.

Kraken offers very reasonable fees, particularly for high-volume traders.

At Kraken Pro, fees are tiered, based on 30-day trading volume:

A $10 purchase of Bitcoin at Kraken incurs a $0.15 fee verses a fee of $0.025 at Kraken Pro.

On Kraken Pro, the exchange offers a variety of advanced functionalities that cover all your trading needs, including:

• Limit orders
• Market orders
• Stop losses
• Stop loss limit orders
• Take profit orders
• Take profit limit orders
• Iceberg order
• Trailing stops
• Trailing stop limit orders

Kraken Pro also offers the ability to trade on margin with up to 5x leverage, but this is restricted to users who meet certain qualifications, such as having more than 10 million USD in assets invested on a discretionary basis.

The trading charts provided by Kraken Pro have multiple indicators integrated directly into the platform, allowing traders to conduct technical analysis (TA) without an additional service – simplifying their efforts to plan out trades.

1. Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD)
2. MYC Trading Indicator
3. Relative Strength Index (RSI)
4. Bollinger Bands
5. Moving Averages (MAs)
6. On-balance Volume (OBV)
7. Accumulation/Distribution Line
8. Average Directional Index (ADX)
9. Aroon Oscillator
10. Stochastic Oscillator

Here at CoinHint, we advise making the safety of your investment your top priority when picking an exchange. There’s no point saving small sums on competitive fees if you can lose your entire balance to a scam or hack.

 Security is a major focal point for Kraken, which incorporates multiple measures to help protect customers, including:

• Two-factor (2FA) authentication
• No Phone/SMS account recovery
• Encrypting sensitive account information
• Global settings time lock
• Configurable account timeout
• User funds stored in offline “cold” wallets

Kraken has a mixed record with regulators, which is common following the SEC’s crackdown on the industry.

Despite their best efforts, they’ve faced legal actions from the regulator, primarily regarding their crypto staking service in the U.S. In February 2023, Kraken paid $30 million to settle a case regarding its staking service and agreed to discontinue it for U.S. customers.

They are also the subject of an ongoing SEC lawsuit for operating as an unregistered securities exchange amid the ongoing debate around whether many cryptocurrencies are unregistered securities.

That said, on the positive side, the exchange has focused on obtaining the proper licenses to operate in various jurisdictions, including registrations from FinCEN in the U.S., FINTRAC in Canada, the FCA in the UK, AUSTRAC in Australia, and the FSA in Japan.

According to many users, the extra effort Kraken has put into security appears to have taken focus away from customer support. There is both live support via chat, as well as a phone number that customers can call, but many users report a slow response when they submit requests for support.

According to TrustPilot, Kraken scored just 1.4 out of 5 stars, with most negative reviews citing poor customer service or unwarranted account closure.

User reviews of Kraken are mixed, with many pleased by its broad selection of cryptos, while detractors highlight poor customer service.

Despite its low ratings with TrustPilot, which are largely influenced by poor customer service experiences, Kraken remains one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges for both new and experienced crypto traders. In more than seven years, I’ve personally never had an issue with using this exchange.

Kraken enjoys high levels of liquidity and trading volumes that ensure you will be able to buy and sell when you desire and can easily transfer funds back into the traditional banking system.

So, here’s the bottom line. Kraken offers a simple and effective user experience that will enable you to securely trade and store your crypto.