Pacifica vs Kraken Futures

Pacifica or Kraken Futures: which to use

Pacifica vs Kraken Futures is a decentralized exchange against a centralized one. On Pacifica you trade from a self-custody wallet without ID, at 1.5 bp maker and 4 bp taker, with up to 50x. Kraken Futures requires full verification, holds your funds in an account, and charges 2 bp maker and 5 bp taker, with up to 100x. As of 1 October 2026 Kraken Futures lists 278 perp markets against Pacifica's 77. Custody, ID and the leverage ceiling are the main differences: pick Pacifica for a wallet and no ID, Kraken Futures for an account, more markets and higher leverage.

How each exchange is built

Pacifica is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that runs on Solana. It matches orders on a central limit order book. You trade from a self-custody wallet.

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

Both exchanges match on a central limit order book. The difference for you is where the funds sit: in a wallet you control on Pacifica, in an account at a company on Kraken Futures.

Fees and what they mean

Pacifica's base tier is 1.5 bp (0.015%) maker and 4 bp (0.04%) taker, per Pacifica's fee page. Kraken Futures' base tier is 2 bp (0.02%) maker and 5 bp (0.05%) taker, per Kraken's fee schedule.

A market order pays the taker fee to open and again to close: 8 bp per round trip on Pacifica, 10 bp on Kraken Futures. A limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee instead, 1.5 bp on Pacifica and 2 bp on Kraken Futures.

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, and every exchange's trading cost is compared on one page.

Markets and leverage

As of 1 October 2026 Kraken Futures lists 278 active perps, 19 of them stocks, commodities, FX or other real-world assets. Pacifica lists 77, of which 24 are real-world assets. Pacifica therefore has fewer markets but a larger number of stock, commodity and FX perps.

Kraken Futures allows up to 100x and Pacifica up to 50x on their highest-leverage markets; most markets allow less. Both exchanges pay funding every hour on every market. An hourly schedule settles 24 times a day, so a position that sits on a high rate pays or receives it in smaller, more frequent steps than on a 4 or 8 hour schedule. Because the interval is the same on both, a funding spread between them is not affected by timing differences. The list further down this page shows the markets both exchanges have and each one's funding rate, and the funding matrix shows every asset on every exchange.

Who can use them

Pacifica asks for no ID. It is blocked in the US, Canada, the UK, China, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines and sanctioned countries.

Kraken Futures requires full verification. It is not offered in the US (which has a separate US product), Canada, Australia (wholesale only) or to retail UK clients.

Points and tokens

Pacifica has no token yet. As of 19 September 2026 its points and airdrop program was "Active", and the airdrops page lists the programs running.

Reading the numbers on this page

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

Kraken Futures has no TVL, as is usual for a centralized exchange, so that row and chart show Pacifica alone. For Pacifica it is DefiLlama's figure for the deposits its bridge holds.

Which one fits you

• Pick Pacifica if you want to keep funds in your own wallet and trade without ID.
• Pick Pacifica if you trade with market orders: 4 bp taker against 5 bp.
• Pick Pacifica if you want stock, commodity and FX perps: 24 markets against 19.
• Pick Pacifica if you follow a points program: its status was "Active" as of 19 September 2026.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you prefer an exchange account and accept full identity verification.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you need more than 50x, up to 100x on its highest-leverage markets.
• Pick Kraken Futures if you want a wider choice of markets: 278 against 77.