KuCoin vs Kraken Futures

KuCoin or Kraken Futures: which to use

KuCoin vs Kraken Futures is two centralized exchanges with the same order-book design, so the choice rests on fees, market range and access. KuCoin charges 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, lists 686 perps and allows up to 125x. Kraken Futures charges 2 bp maker and 5 bp taker, lists 278 perps, allows up to 100x and pays funding hourly on every market. Pick KuCoin for breadth, real-world asset perps and leverage. Pick Kraken Futures for a lower taker fee and a fixed hourly funding schedule.

How each exchange is built

KuCoin is a centralized exchange (CEX): you open an account with the company, and the account holds your funds. It matches orders on a central limit order book. Kraken Futures works the same way: an account at the company holds your funds, and orders meet on a central limit order book.

What the fees are and what they mean

KuCoin's base tier is 2 bp maker and 6 bp taker, per KuCoin's futures fee announcement. Kraken Futures' base tier is 2 bp maker and 5 bp taker, per Kraken's fee schedule.

The maker rate is the same on both, so the gap is in market orders. A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close: 12 bp per round trip on KuCoin and 10 bp on Kraken Futures. A limit order that rests on the book pays 2 bp on either exchange.

Fees are only part of a trade's cost. Slippage, the price you move by eating through the order book, grows with size. The cost table above adds both at each size from $1k to $5M, so it shows more than the fee alone.

Markets, leverage and funding

As of 1 October 2026 KuCoin lists 686 active perps, 159 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Kraken Futures lists 278, with 19 in those categories. If you want stock, commodity or FX perps next to your crypto positions, KuCoin has the larger set.

KuCoin allows up to 125x and Kraken Futures up to 100x on their highest-leverage markets. Most markets on both allow less, so check the limit of the market you plan to trade.

Kraken Futures pays funding every hour on every market. KuCoin pays every 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours depending on the market. An hourly market settles 24 times a day, an 8-hour market three times. Funding is the payment between longs and shorts, and a positive rate means longs pay shorts. On KuCoin, check a market's interval before you hold it. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate.

Who can use them

Both exchanges require KYC. KuCoin requires standard KYC, an ID and face check, for any product, a rule in place since August 2023. Kraken Futures requires full verification. It is closed to the US, where a separate US product exists, to Canada, to Australia except wholesale clients, and to retail UK clients.

Tokens

KuCoin's token is $KCS.

Reading the numbers on this page

Both exchanges publish open interest as one side of open positions. The open interest row and chart above are therefore a like-for-like comparison of the same measure.

Neither exchange has a TVL row or chart, because centralized exchanges publish none. The Head to head table shows no TVL figure for either one, and the TVL chart above is empty for this pair. Volume, funding and trading cost are read live, so use the Head to head table and the cost table for today's figures. For a wider view of trading cost, every exchange's execution cost is on one page.

Which one fits you

• Pick KuCoin if you want the larger set of perps: 686 markets against 278.
• Pick KuCoin if you trade stocks, commodities or FX: 159 real-world asset markets against 19.
• Pick KuCoin if you need more than 100x, up to 125x on its highest-leverage markets.
• Pick KuCoin if you want the $KCS token.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you trade crypto perps with market orders: 5 bp taker against 6 bp.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you want every market on an hourly funding schedule, with no 4 or 8 hour markets to check.