Speaking about the history of the creation of this exchange platform, it is important to mention the fact that it was founded in the middle of 2011 in the United States of America, in the city of San Francisco, just during the peak of Bitcoin’s popularity and, at first worked only with the exchange of BTC to the fiat types of currencies. After six months of full-fledged functioning, in addition to the BTC, the Ethereum appeared on the list, as well as some crypto-coins based on it (the Ethereum ERC20 standard protocol). Then, closer to 2013, the list of cryptocurrency pairs for exchange began to add other altcoins, as well as Bitcoin tokens. For today, there are more than 150 pairs.
Until 2014, few people heard of Kraken, and the number of permanent traders was relatively small, since the stock exchange did not stand out against the backdrop of competitive platforms. But in 2014, an incident occurred that turned the circumstances into a favorable development for the stock exchange.
One of the most popular, at that time, exchange-traded cryptocurrency platform, the American Mtgox has undergone serious hacker attacks. Money from stock traders’ wallets disappeared, and the platform itself came to complete bankruptcy. To investigate this incident, the management of the Kraken crypto-exchange, namely its general manager, J. Powell, was involved, who gathered a whole team of specialists for investigation. The case with success was revealed, and traders could receive financial compensation only by registering for Kraken.
From that moment, or more precisely from May 2014, the number of users of Kraken is constantly increasing, and the amount of the cryptocurrency daily turnover at the time of the 2018th year has exceeded the limit of two and a half billion dollars. Driven by the bitter example of Mtgox, Kraken developers have strengthened security systems and introduced innovations in the process of registering trader accounts.
Today, Kraken is by right the safest platform for the implementation of cryptocurrency assets in the world. Verification, although difficult, can guarantee full savings in exchange wallets and the reliability of transactions. The work of the exchange is absolutely open to users, information about the general director, the head office, etc. – there is on the site of platform. The location of the Kraken is now, as before, fixed in San Francisco, where the main office is located. Kraken is the first crypto-exchange in the world to start writing official media and whose activities were brightened by eminent financial bloggers and polygraphic diaries.
The interface of the site is fully adapted for easy operation and is understandable even on an intuitive level. After entering the personal cabinet, each user can view all previously performed transactions, use financial instruments of volatility analytics and trading volume (“Japanese candles” and “Order book”), form more than twenty kinds of trading orders, enter and withdraw crypto and fiat money , invest in ICO projects. The exchange site has a mobile application for Apple technology. As claimed by the developers in the near future you can expect the same application for the Android system.
Unfortunately, the interface of the Kraken exchange exists only in the English-language format. Other language options are not planned yet. Although you can use Google Translate, which, of course, is far from ideal, but helps at first to better navigate in the menu sections.
Concerning the warrants of purchase and sale of digital coins, they are divided into types:
1. Mixed order type. Suitable in cases when a trader implements crypto-coins not independently, but with the help of brokers, market makers. This type includes 4 types of order forms. The main advantage is the automatic accrual of interest for the work of the market maker, limited time frames, as well as the ability to set a minimum price for the sale of cryptocurrency. After filling, the order is automatically registered in the general Kraken Order Book and is available to all verified traders. Transactions on the order are carried out automatically. Recommended for working with large sums.
2. «Stop» orders.The main function of this order type is to limit the trader’s losses that may arise in connection with sharp volatility waves of unstable cryptographic currency assets. Orders do not support work with market makers. The most popular form of this type is the STOP-Loss order. Using this order, a trader can set a minimum amount for selling coins. Depending on the type, after a sharp drop in the course, the order can burn, temporarily block or go into a closed mode (that is, disappear from the Kraken Order Book).
3. Orders of the”Market” and “Limit” type. Limit types of order forms – this is a purchase-sale at a specified trader’s price (higher in cases of sale, and lower in cases of purchase). Almost all the orders of the limit type proposed for Kraken are passive, and together they form the so-called “exchange cup” in the general Order Book. Market order – the price at which the exchange transaction takes place is completely equal to the average rate at the crypto market, namely on the Kraken website. Such orders use the liquidity of limit orders and are considered to be the most profitable for trading with stable crypto-coins. The average market rate is calculated on the basis of the offers of purchase-sale in the “exchange cup.”
4. Separate orders. In this section, the forms of orders on individual terms are collected.
In order to start trading on the Kraken crypto-exchange, it is necessary to fill out the registration form on the official website, create a user’s personal account, and then go through a four-step verification of the trader’s identity. The exchange wallet is created automatically after the verification confirmation, until this moment to enter funds for bidding and create orders is impossible.
The process of creating a Personal Account on Kraken is very simple and does not differ from registration on any regular website. To create a personal trader account, you need:
1. Login to the official platform of the exchange site – https://www.kraken.com/
2. Enter personal data in the questionnaire fields.
3. Specify the address of the personal current mailbox to which the letter with the activation code comes. (It is recommended to specify Google’s mail)
4. Enter the confirmation code for the activation of the exchange account in the registration field.
5. To come up with an 11-digit password that would contain both alphabetic characters and numbers.
6. Introduce captcha to confirm the identity.
7. Familiar with the rules of work on the Kraken crypto-exchange and tick.
8. To start working on the Kraken exchange is not enough simple registration. After the creation of the trader account it is necessary to pass verification and specify the personal documentary data Depending on what type of work you intend to carry out on the stock exchange (trading or marketmaking, brokerage) – the amount of data is discredited. So, for example, for ordinartrading with a small turnover, it’s enough to go through only three steps of verification, and for brokers you need to specify much more personal information.