Bybit vs Kraken Futures

Bybit vs Kraken Futures: which to use

Bybit vs Kraken Futures is two centralized exchanges with the same base maker fee of 2 bp (0.02%). Bybit charges 5.5 bp taker, Kraken Futures 5 bp. Bybit lists 857 perp markets, 237 of them real-world assets, with up to 150x leverage. Kraken Futures lists 278, 19 of them real-world assets, with up to 100x and hourly funding on every market. Both require KYC. Market count, leverage and the taker fee decide it for most traders: Bybit if you want breadth and more leverage, Kraken Futures if you want a lower taker fee and one funding interval.

How each exchange is built

Bybit is a centralized exchange (CEX): you open an account with the company, and the account holds your funds. Kraken Futures is built the same way. Both match orders on a central limit order book. For the trader the two are alike on custody and matching, so the choice rests on fees, markets, leverage, funding and access.

Fees and what they mean

Bybit's base tier is 2 bp maker and 5.5 bp taker, per Bybit's fee page. Kraken Futures' base tier is 2 bp maker and 5 bp taker, per Kraken's fee schedule.

A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close: 11 bp per round trip on Bybit, 10 bp on Kraken Futures. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead, 2 bp on both. If you trade with limit orders, the base fee is the same on each side.

Fees are only part of a trade's cost. Slippage, the price you move by eating through the order book, grows with size and depends on each book's depth. The cost table above adds the taker fee twice and the measured slippage at each size from $1k to $5M. Every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Bybit lists 857 active perps, 237 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Kraken Futures lists 278, 19 of them real-world assets. If you want stocks and commodities next to your crypto, Bybit has far more of them.

Bybit allows up to 150x and Kraken Futures up to 100x on their highest-leverage markets; most markets allow less on both.

Funding differs in timing. Kraken Futures pays every 1 hour on every market. Bybit pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market, so check a market's interval before you hold it. An hourly market settles 24 times a day, an 8-hour market three times. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Both require KYC. Bybit requires standard verification for every product. Kraken Futures requires full verification, and it is closed to the US (which has a separate US product), Canada, Australia (wholesale only) and retail UK clients.

Reading the numbers on this page

Bybit publishes open interest as longs plus shorts, both sides of every position. Kraken Futures publishes one side of open positions. For the same positions Bybit's figure reads about twice as large, so the open interest row and chart above are not a like-for-like comparison of size.

Neither exchange publishes TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so the TVL row and chart hold no figures for either one. Volume, open interest and costs change every minute, so read them from the Head to head table and the charts above. Their BTC listing also shows funding, price and liquidity for every exchange that lists BTC.

Which one fits you

• Pick Bybit if you want stocks, commodities or FX perps: 237 real-world asset markets against 19.
• Pick Bybit if you want the widest choice of perps: 857 markets against 278.
• Pick Bybit if you need more than 100x: it allows up to 150x on its highest-leverage market.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you trade with market orders: 5 bp taker against 5.5 bp.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you want one funding schedule: every market pays every 1 hour.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you want a 100x ceiling with a single fixed funding interval across 278 markets.