How to Use Kraken Pro (2026): Pay 0.40%, Not 1% + Spread

Kraken runs two front ends on one account. The Kraken app is built for one-tap buying; Kraken Pro is the exchange itself — chart, live order book and an order form — on the web at pro.kraken.com and in the separate Kraken Pro app. You sign in with the same login and see the same balances, so switching costs nothing.

The price of a trade is what differs. The app charges 1% plus a spread that Kraken doesn't publish. Kraken Pro charges its fee schedule: 0.40% for orders that add liquidity (maker) and 0.80% for orders that take it (taker) at the entry tier. On a $1,000 buy that is $4 or $8 on Kraken Pro against $10 plus the spread in the app.

Kraken describes Kraken Pro as spot, margin and derivatives trading plus staking, with 400+ assets, 25+ widgets and charting that compares up to four markets. Which of those you can use depends on your country — spot trading is the part available almost everywhere Kraken operates.

The order form sits to the right of the order book. Choose Buy, then Limit. Kraken's own definition: a limit order lets you choose the price your order will execute at, assuming the market reaches your limit price.

Enter the limit price, then either the quantity of coin or the total in dollars — the other field fills itself. Set the price at or slightly below the current one if you want the order to rest on the book.

Tick Post only. In Kraken's words, it prevents your order from executing as a market order and paying the more expensive taker fee — if the price you entered would fill at once, the order is cancelled instead. Then press Buy and confirm.

Market orders are one click and fill at once, at the taker fee (0.80% at the entry tier). Use them when speed matters more than $4 per $1,000.

Kraken Pro's tiers are maker / taker by 30-day trading volume: 0.40% / 0.80% from $0, 0.30% / 0.60% from $2,500, 0.22% / 0.38% from $10,000, 0.15% / 0.30% from $50,000 and 0.12% / 0.25% from $100,000. The app's 1% plus spread doesn't fall with volume.

Deposits by bank transfer or crypto are the cheap way in; the same two methods count toward the $10 new-user bonus (deposit $100 and trade $100). Card deposits don't count.

The Kraken Pro app (Payward, Inc.) is separate from the Kraken app and uses the same account. In the US App Store it has 4.7 from 25,683 ratings, against 4.7 from 36,052 for the Kraken app (checked 30 Oct 2026).

Kraken's steps for a limit order in the app: tap the purple action icon, pick the market, tap Buy, slide the order form up, choose Limit, enter the limit price and the amount or total, optionally tick Post only, tap Buy and slide to confirm.

Order-book trades have per-coin minimums — Kraken's support page gives 0.01 ETH for ETH and 5 EUR for euro orders as examples — while the app's Buy button starts at 1 unit of USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD or CHF. For a few-dollar test buy the app is simpler; from about $100 up, Kraken Pro is cheaper.

Kraken serves every US state except New York and Maine, the UK, and the EU under a MiCA license from the Central Bank of Ireland. It has published proof of reserves since 2014.