Kraken fees: the rate depends on the product

Current fee snapshot

These rates are not interchangeable. A taker order on Kraken Pro spot does not use the futures rate. Buying an xStock through Convert does not use the normal spot order-book fee. Kraken Prop commission is charged inside an evaluation and also counts toward its risk limits.

How the cross-platform tier works

Kraken changed its Pro tiers on 9 July 2026. The applicable level is determined by the best of three measures: 30-day spot volume, 30-day futures volume or eligible assets held on the platform.

The resulting tier can then apply to spot and futures. xStocks contribute to spot volume. Traditional equities do not count as assets held for this calculation.

This can benefit a client who is active in one market and trades another. It does not guarantee the same percentage on every product, because each schedule still has its own maker and taker columns.

Maker and taker cost example

At the base spot tier, a $10,000 order that adds liquidity at 0.40% costs $40. The same notional that removes liquidity at 0.80% costs $80. A later exit creates a second fee.

If both entry and exit are taker orders at the same notional, the fee total is $160 before spread and price movement. That simple arithmetic is why a “0.80% fee” should never be described as the total cost of a completed trade.

Kraken Prop costs

Prop commission is 0.04% per side. A $100,000 notional entry costs $40 and the same-size exit costs another $40. Funding is 0.033% per day, calculated every four hours.

Those charges reduce the account equity used for maximum daily loss and maximum drawdown. A high-turnover evaluation can fail through the combination of small market losses and accumulated costs even when no single trade is large.

xStocks costs

The EEA legal terms describe buying around 1% above the reference and selling around 1% below. That is an embedded spread, not a standard Kraken Pro maker or taker fee.

For an unchanged $1,000 reference value, the simplified purchase is about $1,010 and the sale is about $990. The $20 difference represents 2% of the reference value across both sides. Currency conversion or Instant Buy costs can increase the total.

How to reduce avoidable fees

• Use the product’s own fee schedule, not a generic Kraken percentage.
• Check whether an order will add or remove liquidity.
• Compare Kraken Pro with Instant Buy before confirming.
• Include both entry and exit in a cost estimate.
• Add funding for leveraged positions held over time.
• For xStocks, compare the final quote with the underlying reference.
• For Prop, keep a fee buffer inside both loss limits.

The cheapest route depends on order type, size, holding period and country. The live confirmation screen is the last source before a trade.