Kraken Pro charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at its entry tier against 0.600% and 1.200% on Gemini ActiveTrader, so Kraken is the cheaper order book at every size; Gemini answers with a New YorkKraken Pro charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at its entry tier against 0.600% and 1.200% on Gemini ActiveTrader, so Kraken is the cheaper order book at every size; Gemini answers with a New York

Learn/Spotlight/Kraken vs Gemini Crypto Exchange (2026): 0.80% or 1.20% on Your First Trade, and Which One Do You Actually Need?

Kraken vs Gemini Crypto Exchange (2026): 0.80% or 1.20% on Your First Trade, and Which One Do You Actually Need?

Author: Sarah Chen

Beginner

Oct 16, 2026Sarah Chen

14 min

Kraken Pro charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at its entry tier against 0.600% and 1.200% on Gemini ActiveTrader, so Kraken is the cheaper order book at every size; Gemini answers with a New York trust charter, a simpler app and prediction markets, which makes it the better fit for a cautious first-time buyer and Kraken the better fit for anyone who trades.

Key Takeaways

Kraken Pro's entry tier is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker under its 9 July 2026 schedule, while Gemini ActiveTrader's schedule dated 1 September 2026 starts at 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker.
Both platforms cut fees for size: Kraken reaches 0.22% and 0.38% at $10,000 of volume or $20,000 of assets on the platform, Gemini reaches 0.400% and 0.800% at $10,000 of volume or a $1 million balance.
Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on CoinGecko against 73 coins across 100 pairs on Gemini.
Kraken adds US stocks, tokenized equities and futures to crypto, while Gemini adds prediction markets, stocks, a credit card and GUSD-settled perpetuals for non-US users.
Gemini returned every Earn customer's assets after a June 2024 settlement with the New York Attorney General, and Kraken returned about $3 million taken from its treasury in a June 2024 bug incident.
MEXC does not serve United States residents, so for a US reader the choice in this article stays between Kraken and Gemini.

Two fee schedules changed this year, and the comparisons did not

Gemini in this article is the crypto exchange founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and chartered as a New York trust company, not the Google AI product that shares its name.

Kraken rebuilt its Pro fee ladder on 9 July 2026 and Gemini published a new ActiveTrader schedule dated 1 September 2026, and most comparison pages still quote the rates that came before.

Some still describe Gemini as the cheaper platform, which was arguable under the old schedules and is not true under the new ones.

Kraken's own comparison page still quotes its pre-July 0.25% and 0.40% entry rates and describes Gemini's ActiveTrader as starting at similar levels, so neither platform's marketing is a safe source for today's numbers.

This article quotes both schedules as published on their own fee pages, with a verification date beside each figure, and ends with a verdict by reader type rather than a single winner.

How do Kraken and Gemini compare at a glance?

Dimension	Kraken	Gemini
Spot fees, entry tier	Kraken Pro Tier 1: 0.40% maker, 0.80% taker; Tier 3 from $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets on platform: 0.22% maker, 0.38% taker; app Instant Buy 1% plus spread	ActiveTrader base tier: 0.600% maker, 1.200% taker; from $10,000 of 30-day volume or a $1 million balance: 0.400% maker, 0.800% taker; web and mobile instant orders add a 0.50% convenience fee plus a transaction fee of 1.49% above $200
Futures fees, entry tier	Kraken Futures Tier 1: 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker (not offered to US, Canada or New Zealand customers); CFTC-regulated futures for US clients via NinjaTrader	GUSD-settled perpetuals for non-US users: 0.02% maker, 0.07% taker at the base tier; liquidation fee 0.5%
Coins and pairs (CoinGecko)	717 coins, 1,500 pairs, Trust Score 10 out of 10	73 coins, 100 pairs, Trust Score 9 out of 10
Beyond crypto	11,000 plus US stocks and ETFs commission-free for eligible US clients; 700 plus tokenized equities via xStocks outside the US, UK, Canada and Australia; Krak payments app; staking	Gemini Predictions event contracts; stocks; Gemini credit card; staking; GUSD and RLUSD stablecoin pairs at 0.00% maker, 0.01% taker
Security and regulation	Proof of reserves published since 2014 per Kraken; June 2024 bug incident took about $3 million from Kraken's own treasury, later returned	New York trust company chartered by NYDFS; Earn programme frozen in November 2022 and customers made whole after the June 2024 New York Attorney General settlement
Deposits, withdrawals and KYC	Full KYC; US ACH and FedWire deposits free; US debit card 3.75% plus $0.25; fixed crypto withdrawal fees; ten fiat currencies	Full KYC; ACH and wire deposits; fee schedule published for USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, HKD and SGD orders
Where you can use it	US with state-by-state product limits, UK, EEA and 190 plus countries per Kraken	US including New York, UK, EEA and other markets per Gemini; perpetuals outside the US only
Signature feature	One account for crypto, stocks, tokenized equities and futures	A regulated trust charter and prediction markets in a beginner-friendly app

Data verified as of 18 September 2026 against each platform's official fee schedule, help center and terms, and CoinGecko exchange pages.

A third option outside the United States: MEXC

Readers outside the United States sometimes weigh MEXC against both platforms because of its published 0% maker and 0.05% taker spot schedule, a taker rate 24 times lower than Gemini's entry tier.

MEXC does not serve United States residents, so for a US-based reader the choice in this article stays between Kraken and Gemini.

Non-US readers can see the full breakdown in our MEXC vs Gemini comparison, which also covers where each platform is legal to use.

Our MEXC vs Kraken comparison does the same for Kraken's schedule and regional access.

Which is cheaper, Kraken or Gemini?

Kraken, at every tier and on both interfaces.

At the entry tier a $1,000 taker order costs $8.00 on Kraken Pro and $12.00 on Gemini ActiveTrader, and a $1,000 maker order costs $4.00 against $6.00.

Both ladders reward size, and both now count assets on the platform as well as trading volume, but the thresholds differ.

Kraken Pro reaches 0.22% maker and 0.38% taker at $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets held, while Gemini ActiveTrader reaches 0.400% and 0.800% at $10,000 of volume or a $1 million balance.

At the top of each ladder Kraken ends at 0% maker and 0.10% taker from $10 million of volume, and Gemini ends at 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker from $250 million.

The consumer interfaces are further apart still.

Kraken's app charges 1% on Instant Buy and Sell orders, 1.5% on custom orders, plus a spread, while Gemini's web and mobile instant orders build a 0.50% convenience fee into the quoted price and add a transaction fee that reaches 1.49% of the order above $200.

A $1,000 instant purchase therefore costs about $10 plus spread on Kraken and about $19.90 on Gemini before any spread in the underlying market.

Kraken+ costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year and waives app trading fees on up to $10,000 of monthly volume, but not on Kraken Pro, not on the spread and not on card fees.

Gemini's stablecoin pairs are the one place its schedule wins: GUSD, RLUSD and USDC pairs trade at 0.00% maker and 0.01% taker, and the RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD and GUSD/USD pairs trade at zero on both sides.

Our quarterly crypto exchange fee index places both schedules beside ten other platforms and records who publishes fees without an account.

Which is better for derivatives?

Kraken Futures charges 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker at its first tier and serves clients outside the US, Canada and New Zealand, with US clients routed to CFTC-regulated futures through Kraken's NinjaTrader acquisition.

Gemini's perpetuals settle in GUSD, start at 0.02% maker and 0.07% taker, charge a 0.5% liquidation fee and are offered to non-US users only.

Kraken's futures venue lists 331 pairs on CoinGecko against 14 on Gemini Derivatives, so the depth gap is wider than the fee gap.

Margin on Kraken's spot markets carries an opening fee of 0.01% to 0.04% plus a rollover charge every four hours and a 2% liquidation fee, while Gemini's margin schedule lists a 26.3% annual interest rate on USD borrowing.

For a US reader, Kraken is the only one of the two with a regulated derivatives route at all.

How the major derivatives platforms compare on fees, pairs and leverage is set out in our separate derivatives guide.

Which lists more coins?

Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on its CoinGecko page, and Gemini lists 73 coins across 100 pairs on its own.

The ten-to-one gap is the widest of any dimension in this comparison, and it reflects Gemini's deliberate policy of listing a short roster of assets it has vetted as a New York trust company.

Kraken's ten fiat currencies also multiply its pair count, because many assets trade directly against USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and CHF rather than through a stablecoin.

CoinGecko scores Kraken at 10 out of 10 for trust and Gemini at 9 out of 10, so both order books are real; one is simply much larger.

Which is safer and better regulated?

Both are US companies with long records, and each carries one episode a careful reader should know about.

Gemini is chartered by the New York Department of Financial Services as a trust company, which lets it serve New York residents under one of the strictest state regimes in the country.

Its Earn programme, run with Genesis Global Capital, froze withdrawals in November 2022, and in June 2024 the New York Attorney General announced a $50 million settlement that, together with a $2 billion Genesis settlement, gave more than 230,000 Earn investors full recovery and barred Gemini from running crypto lending programmes in New York.

Kraken says it has published proof of reserves since 2014, holds ISO 27001 certification and a SOC 2 Type 2 examination, and runs a public bug bounty programme.

In June 2024 a bug in Kraken's deposit flow let three accounts withdraw about $3 million from Kraken's own treasury rather than client balances, and the funds were returned after Kraken involved law enforcement, as The Block reported.

Neither episode cost a customer their trading balance, and both companies disclose more about their controls today than they did before.

Gemini's trust structure and Kraken's proof-of-reserves programme answer the same question in different ways: one relies on a regulator's supervision, the other on a cryptographic audit clients can check themselves.

Which is easier to fund and withdraw from?

Both accept ACH and wire deposits in the United States, and both require full identity verification before a first withdrawal.

Kraken's US ACH and FedWire deposits are free, its debit card deposits cost 3.75% plus $0.25, and its crypto withdrawal fees are fixed per asset and shown before you confirm.

Kraken's ten fiat currencies matter more outside the United States, where EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and CHF rails avoid a dollar conversion on the way in and out.

Gemini publishes instant-order fee tables in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, HKD and SGD, which shows where it expects its retail customers to be.

Read each platform's funding page for your own country, since bank fees and processing times differ by rail.

Where can you actually use Kraken and Gemini?

Both serve the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, so the border does not decide this comparison.

Gemini's New York charter means it serves New York residents, which several exchanges cannot, and its perpetuals are closed to US users entirely.

Kraken's US stock trading is rolling out state by state, its global futures venue does not serve US, Canadian or New Zealand customers, and xStocks are closed to US, UK, Canadian and Australian residents.

Kraken says it serves more than 190 countries, and Gemini publishes country-specific fee schedules for its retail markets, so readers elsewhere should check each platform's own list.

For regional access across the wider field, see our full guide to crypto exchange alternatives.

What does a year on Kraken vs Gemini really cost?

Price $2,000 of monthly volume on each route, split evenly between maker and taker orders where an order book applies.

It costs about $144 a year on Kraken Pro Tier 1 and about $216 a year on Gemini ActiveTrader's base tier.

The same volume through the consumer interfaces costs about $240 a year on Kraken's 1% Instant Buy plus spread, and about $478 a year on Gemini's instant orders at 1.49% plus the 0.50% convenience fee.

At $10,000 of monthly volume the gap widens rather than closes, because Kraken's Tier 3 taker rate of 0.38% is less than half of Gemini's $10,000-tier rate of 0.800%.

Fees are the clearest win in this comparison, but at $2,000 a month the difference is $6 a month on the order book, so a reader who values Gemini's charter or its prediction markets is not paying much for them.

Who should choose Kraken, and who should choose Gemini?

Choose Kraken if you trade regularly, want more than 700 coins and ten fiat currencies, or want stocks, tokenized equities and futures in the same account.

Choose Kraken if you live in a country where its futures venue is open and you want the lower 0.02% and 0.05% schedule.

Choose Gemini if you are a first-time buyer in New York or another strict US state and want an exchange chartered as a trust company.

Choose Gemini if you want prediction markets, a crypto credit card and a short vetted asset list in one app, and you plan to trade rarely enough that 1.200% is a few dollars a year.

Our full Gemini review covers those features and the trade-offs that come with them.

Whichever you pick, use Kraken Pro or ActiveTrader rather than the instant-buy screens, because the consumer routes on both platforms cost two to three times the order-book rate.

Readers comparing Kraken with other platforms can use our Kraken alternatives comparison, and readers comparing Gemini can use our Gemini alternatives comparison.

For the wider market beyond these two, see the full best crypto exchanges comparison.

The MEXC View: where we stand on Kraken vs Gemini

MEXC Learn is published by MEXC, an exchange that competes with both platforms outside the United States, so read this section as an interested party's opinion.

We think Kraken wins this comparison on the numbers, and that its 1,500 pairs, ten fiat currencies and multi-asset account make it the stronger platform for anyone who trades more than occasionally.

Those strengths and the platform's weaknesses are scored in our Kraken review 2026.

We also think Gemini's trust charter is worth more than its critics allow, and that a New York resident choosing between a chartered trust company and an out-of-state exchange is making a reasonable trade of fees for supervision.

What we would change is Gemini's 1.200% entry-tier taker rate, which is the highest published order-book rate among the major US exchanges and the reason its schedule appears at the top of every fee comparison we run.

MEXC sits outside this comparison for US readers, and non-US readers can see how a 0% maker and 0.05% taker schedule compares with Gemini's in our MEXC vs Gemini comparison.

Every figure in this article carries a verification date, and our review methodology explains how we score exchanges we compete with.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kraken better than Gemini?

Kraken is better on fees, coins, fiat currencies and derivatives, while Gemini is better for a cautious first-time buyer who values a New York trust charter.

Both serve the US, the UK and the EEA.

Is Gemini cheaper than Kraken?

No, Gemini ActiveTrader starts at 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker against 0.40% and 0.80% on Kraken Pro.

Gemini's instant orders also cost more than Kraken's 1% Instant Buy.

Is Gemini safer than Kraken?

Gemini is a New York trust company and Kraken publishes proof of reserves; each has one 2024 episode on record, and neither cost customers their trading balances.

Both require full KYC.

Which has more coins, Kraken or Gemini?

Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on CoinGecko, against 73 coins across 100 pairs on Gemini.

Gemini's shorter list is a policy choice, not a data gap.

Is Gemini available in New York?

Yes, Gemini is chartered by the New York Department of Financial Services and serves New York residents.

Check Kraken's own state list for its product availability in New York.

Kraken Pro vs Gemini ActiveTrader: which has lower fees?

Kraken Pro at every tier: 0.40% and 0.80% against 0.600% and 1.200% at entry, and 0.22% and 0.38% against 0.400% and 0.800% at $10,000 of volume.

Gemini's stablecoin pairs are the exception at 0.00% and 0.01%.

What happened to Gemini Earn?

Earn froze withdrawals in November 2022 when Genesis Global Capital failed, and a June 2024 New York Attorney General settlement gave more than 230,000 investors full recovery.

Gemini may no longer run crypto lending programmes in New York.

Can I transfer crypto from Gemini to Kraken?

Yes, by withdrawing from Gemini to your Kraken deposit address on the same network.

Check the network and any memo first, and send a small test amount before the full transfer.

Risk and compliance disclosure

Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose your entire deposit; derivatives, margin and event contracts add liquidation and settlement risk on top of price risk.

Fees, listings and regional availability change; every figure above carries its verification date and should be re-checked before you act on it.

MEXC does not serve United States residents, and US readers should compare the platforms licensed in their state.

MEXC does not accept United Kingdom residents, is listed on ESMA's register of non-compliant entities for the EEA, and is offboarding Netherlands users by 16 November 2026, so this comparison is informational for readers in those regions.

Nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice.

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This article is provided by Sarah Chen for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets involve significant risk. Please conduct independent research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment decisions. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of MEXC or its affiliates.

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