There have been many critiques regarding Kraken, especially during the last server down which should have lasted 2 hours became almost 3 days. Well, here is my input.
I have been using Kraken for some time and… I like it! So far, I have been dealing with several different exchanges including Bitstamp, itBit, Coinbase, CEX.io, Bitbay, Bittrax, BTC-e, and etc. They all have its own advantages and disadvantages. Some exchanges banned USD deposits, so I had no choice but to walk away from the exchange. Some of them such as itBit is pricey and only trades limited types of coins.
In this blog, I am going to tell you my personal experience of Kraken.
Sign up and verification process? Well, it’s not just Kraken, all exchanges are experiencing a high volume of applications. These days, no exchanges will approve you instantly unless you are using the exchanges in Korea. From my experience, I think that Kraken has very limited employees working on many different tasks just as all other exchanges. I bet every one of them are working endlessly. Fortunately, for me, I signed up long ago. I did wait about a month or so for me to get to the Tier 3.
Deposit? When I initiate a wire transfer to Kraken for the first thing in the morning, usually around dinner time, the wire transfer amount is applied to the Kraken account. So far, this is the fastest service.
Withdrawal? It’s about the same as the deposit. Mostly one to two business days.
Fees? Initially 0.25% per trade and once you hit $50,000 total trade amount, it decreases to a lower percentage. I do not recall the exact % since Kraken is currently offering 0% trading fee until the end of Jan 2018.
Server speed? It depends on the time when you log in. Since the last server maintenance, the server has been pretty smooth.
One important part that you need to be aware when you are using Kraken for the main trading account. It’s the account limit. I found it the hard way how the limit works.
Below are the direct copy and paste of the rules from the Kraken. I will explain how it works.
U.S. dollar deposit and withdrawal limits for U.S. residents are stated below:
Deposits:
Individual Accounts:
Daily:
$25,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 Tier 4 with a proof of source of funds.Monthly:
$50,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 with a proof of source of funds.Annually:
$50,000 annually without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 annually with a proof of source of funds.Corporate Accounts:
Daily:
$100,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$1,000,000 with a proof of source of funds.Monthly:
$200,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$10,000,000 with a proof of source of funds.Annually:
$1,000,000 annually without a proof of source of funds.
$120,000,000 annually with a proof of source of funds.Withdrawals:
Individual Accounts:
Daily:
$25,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 Tier 4 with a proof of source of funds.Monthly:
$50,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 with a proof of source of funds.Annually:
$50,000 annually without a proof of source of funds.
$100,000 annually with a proof of source of funds.Corporate Accounts:
Daily:
$100,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$1,000,000 with a proof of source of funds.Monthly:
$200,000 without a proof of source of funds.
$10,000,000 with a proof of source of funds.Annually:
$1,000,000 annually without a proof of source of funds.
$120,000,000 annually with a proof of source of funds.
Most of us are probably individual account holder so that’s what I will explain.
This limit is set by the Kraken. Which seems quite reasonable. $25,000/day and $200,000/month. For the general population, that should be more than enough for deposit limit. Here is the catch. This is ONLY Kraken’s limit. Kraken is relying on deposit service by US bank, they have to follow the US bank’s deposit limit. And this is where the bottleneck is.
It doesn’t matter what the limit of Kraken is, the bank that Kraken is partnered with has the limit of $100,000/day/month/year. Yes, I thought I read it wrong. No matter what, you cannot deposit more than $100,000/year. Period. The bank asked me for the proof of source of funds. I sent them my 1040 (tax return) and they asked me for more document. This time, they asked me for proof of total asset of $1,000,000. Hum…
According to the representatives of Kraken, they are working on the higher deposit limit but not sure when that would be.
Here is the link to the more detailed information about account limits.
So, I applied for the corporate account and this is their reply.
In reviewing the application it was noted that you intend to “offer cryptocurrency buy/sell services “.
Unfortunately, due to compliance and our agreement with our payment provider, we can not offer domestic USD funding for the account.
We can still complete the verification, and the account will have corporate Cryptocurrency limits and funding options from non-US banks.
We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. As this may impact your decision on the corporate application, please contact me if have any further concerns.
If you do submit all of the required documents, I will process the application as a priority.
Hum. Seems like another dead end. But will see what other alternative is available.
Overall review is that if you are small cap trader, Kraken is a good platform. I think their fee is competitive with other competitors. Wire transfer will take less than 24 hours for the amount to be applied to the trading account. One of the fastest among that I know of. They have a variety of coins that you can trade. I made many transfers from the Kraken to another exchange and from my personal experience, BCH took the least amount of time. I believe that Kraken is reliable and trustworthy.
One last word for those current and future Kraken users. Please be nice on your email when you talk to them. Still, they are human and they have emotions. Nice words would make their life and your life easier. Words have power. Please be considerate what words to use what words not to use.
Happy trading!