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Perpetual Futures trading
Last updated: December 23, 2025
App only:
Perpetual futures on the Kraken App are only available for certain geographies (excl. US, UK, Canada, and Australia). This is separate from our Futures trading offering on Kraken Pro.
Perpetual futures, also known as “perps”, are derivative contracts that allow you to speculate on the price movement of cryptocurrencies, like BTC, ETH, and SOL, without needing to own the actual coins. You can choose whether you think the price will rise or fall, giving you the flexibility to trade in any market direction with amplified exposure.
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Two-direction trading
Whether you think an asset will go up or down, perpetual futures allow you to open either price rise or price fall positions. You can open both of these positions without needing to purchase or hold the asset.
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The power of Kraken's perpetual futures
Kraken’s perpetual futures let you trade with up to 50x leverage—depending on the asset and your region—reducing the amount of capital required for larger trades. Your gains, and losses, are amplified accordingly.
Example:
You believe the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is about to rise and set up a trade:
- Initial capital: $100
- Leverage applied: 10x
- Total position size: $1,000 (10 × $100)
BTC then rises after you open the trade:
- BTC price movement: +5%
- Your position gain: 5% of $1,000 = $50 profit
Because you used a 10x leverage, your $100 investment earns a $50 profit*, resulting in a 50% return compared to just 5% if you traded without leverage.
If BTC dropped by 5% instead, you would lose more than 5% depending on what level the stop loss is set to. Kraken’s perpetual futures automatically set a stop loss to prevent excessive losses.
*Excluding funding rate and trade fees
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Pre-set max loss and max profit
Kraken’s perpetual futures auto-configure a Stop Loss and Take Profit, meaning your potential gain or loss is estimated beforehand on all trades. You can modify this if you desire to take more risk or be more conservative.
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Hedging strategy
Have a crypto investment in your spot portfolio? Betting against the same asset with perpetual futures can hedge against downside volatility.
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Deep liquidity & 24/7 access
Kraken’s perpetual futures order books move faster and deeper than many spot markets. Plus, trades are available around the clock, so you can engage whenever the markets do.
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Getting started: Tap the Trade button. From the trade options presented, select Perps.
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Choose your asset: Choose from our list of cryptocurrencies.
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Select a direction: Choose Price rise if you think the price will increase. Choose Price fall if you think the price will decrease.
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Type your amount and adjust your leverage: Your position size will be the value entered multiplied by the leverage amount.
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Set risk options: You can edit the Max Profit and Max Loss settings if needed.
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Review and execute: Confirm your setup and open the trade.
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Manage actively: Track your position in the Kraken app and adjust as needed.
All of your perps positions can be easily viewed on the Portfolio page. You may also cash out the position, meaning you close it and realize your current gains or losses.
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Go to the Portfolio tab.
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Assets that have a perps position open will display under the Perpetual futures section of your Portfolio page.
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Select the position that you’d like to view.
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Swipe left on the Overview tab to display your current position(s) details.
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If you’d like, you can cash out a position without waiting for it to hit your Stop Loss or Take Profit. To do this, simply select the Cash out position button.
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Review the details of your closing trade, and then select Confirm to execute.
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A confirmation screen will appear, displaying your realized profit or loss.
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Funding rate
To keep prices in line with the market, traders pay (or receive) a small fee every 8 hours.
If more people are positioned for the price to go up, they pay this fee to those positioned that it will go down, and vice versa.
The fee changes with organic market sentiment and is based on the size of your position.
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No expiration date
You can hold your position indefinitely, so long as you maintain the required capital and cover any funding payments.
Kraken’s perpetual futures fees as are follows:
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Based on the entire leveraged position size.
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Applied at both entry and exit of the position.
Example: A client invests $100, which is 10x leveraged to $1,000.
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Entry: 0.25% fee applied to $1,000 = $2.50
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Exit: 0.25% fee applies to closing amount (this can vary depending on the size of the gain/loss) but should be no lower than $1 in case of order closing out at 80% loss
Besides funding rates, no other fees apply.
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Losses
Kraken’s perpetual futures allow clients to set a stop loss, a predetermined price at which their position will close if the market moves against them, helping to limit potential losses. By default, this is set to -8% of the entry price, but clients can customize it to match their risk tolerance. Always keep in mind, leverage enables amplified gains, but also enables amplified losses.
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Funding costs
Funding expenses are applied periodically (e.g. hourly). The longer you hold a position, and the more leverage used, the higher your expenses.
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Price volatility
Crypto markets can swing fast. Volatile markets offer large opportunities but also increase the likelihood of sudden, large losses.
Trading derivatives and other financial instruments, including leveraged financial instruments, involves significant risks and is not appropriate for all investors. See our Risk Disclosure to learn more.
Availability of margin trading services is subject to certain limitations and eligibility criteria. Trading using margin involves an element of risk and may not be suitable for everyone. Read Kraken's Margin Disclosure Statement to learn more.