Gate.io vs. Kraken: Two Favorites Go Head to Head

We’ve lined up two of our favorite cryptocurrency exchanges to see which one is currently on top. We will assess trading fees, the variety of crypto assets available and how to get them, how secure each platform is, and what services they provide. So, join us as we compare Gate Technology and the Kraken Exchange (to give them their formal titles). 

Fees

Gate.io Trading Fees

In the image below, we have highlighted the most critical section with blue lines. You’ll find the 0.2% maker and taker fees for beginners executing trades on the platform within these lines. If you continue to trade with Gate.io and your monthly trading volume begins to exceed 1.5BTC worth of cryptocurrency in 30 days, you’ll enter the next VIP tier and unlock further discounts. If you want lower fees, you can also consider paying them in Gate Token (GT), the platform’s utility token, which reduces costs by 25%.

0.2% maker and taker fees for beginners executing trades on the Gate.io platform

If you look up at VIP 15 and 16, you’ll notice that the maker fees are negative, which means that instead of charging, they award users rebates. However, 40,000 BTC worth of trades in a month is around $2 billion, so there won’t be many, if any, users reaching this level.

Kraken Trading Fees

Beginners and low-volume traders who execute trades totaling less than $50,000 in 30 days will receive the highest fees that Kraken offers:

  • 0.16% for makers
  • 0.26% for takers

Maker fees will never reach a negative, like with Gate.io, but they do reach 0% once trading over $10,000,000 per month.

Fortunately, these fees are slightly below average for this industry. Read this Kraken guide to learn more about how fees are collected. 

Kraken vs. Gate.io: Few other crypto exchanges offer rebates to high volume traders, so Gate.io edges this round.

Sign Up & KYC Experience

Becoming a Gate.io User (USA Friendly)

  1. Start by heading to the Gate.io website
  2. Click ‘Sign Up’ and give a country, username, email, password
  3. Add a fund password, which will be used when attempting withdrawals
  4. Your account is now made, but you’ll need to confirm this by clicking the link sent to the email provided
  5. Log in once more

Congratulations, you’re now a Gate.io user. If you want to buy crypto or expand your trading limits, you will need to go through KYC checks, which means providing photos of your identity documents and some personal details. The trading platform will allow you to trade anonymously in small amounts, which appeals to many crypto enthusiasts. 

Joining Kraken (USA friendly)

  1. Go to Kraken’s website and click on Create Account
  2. Choose an email address, country of residence, username, and password
  3. Accept the terms and conditions
  4. Keeping the Kraken tab open, head to your email provider and find the activation key sent to you by Kraken. Type this into the Kraken tab along with your username and password and then click ‘Activate Account’
  5. Like Gate.io, Kraken does not force KYC checks on their users, and even allows withdrawals of up to $5,000 worth of cryptocurrency coins each day
  6. If you do want to proceed with KYC checks, you’ll need to upload a photo of your ID, a proof of residence document, a selfie holding your ID, and details about your occupation and source of funds
  7. You should set up 2-Factor Authentication as soon as you have made it to the user portal

Kraken vs. Gate.io: Kraken offers slightly more generous terms for anonymous traders.

Ease of Use & Feel of Website or App

Gate.io UX/UI

Gate.io is a fantastic exchange, but it is fair to say that it’s not the simplest for a total beginner to use. Despite saying that, we believe that it is a great place to get started and quickly increase your crypto-competency levels because of the excellent tools and services it offers. What Gate.io does best is listing new coins, of which they boast around 850 — more than double their closest rival. In addition, the exchange trading platform itself is well-designed, with live prices, moving charts, an easy order form, historical data charting, and much more.

Gate.io trading view

Using Kraken

On the other hand, Kraken has designed its crypto exchange for three different types of traders by creating services and interfaces well-suited to each one. For beginners, the simple Kraken service even has its own mobile app, and it removes all of the complicated charts and flashing figures that cause overwhelm — it’s more of a simple brokerage. On top of that, there is an incredible educational resource section targeted at beginners that will help you find your feet in the world of trading. 

The Kraken Pro service is excellent for day trading, offering everything you’d want from an exchange. The mobile app comes highly rated, though the retro 8-bit theme might put off some users. 

For traders who want an exchange with greater risk, futures, crypto derivatives, and margin trading with leverage are also available, making Kraken a popular choice among that community. 

Despite having around 80 cryptocurrency coins and 330 trading pairs, Kraken can compete fiercely with their rivals due to the quality they offer throughout

Kraken vs. Gate.io: It’s very close, but we are going to give it to Kraken for their beginner-friendly approach.

Deposit Methods

Getting your funds into Gate.io

Error 404: Page not found. Oops, Gate.io doesn’t offer fiat wallets to its users. The best alternative is to purchase or deposit Tether (USDT), typically used in place of US dollars.

Withdrawal fees on Gate.io will depend entirely on what cryptocurrency you are dealing with, and, unfortunately, you cannot sell your crypto to Gate.io for fiat currency. These issues typically mean that you will need to find an alternative off-ramp when converting your crypto to cash. 

Making fiat deposits on Kraken

Fortunately for Kraken’s users (and potential new registrants), you are provided with fiat wallets for seven currencies and many great ways to make deposits, many of which are free:

  • USD – Fedwire, SWIFT and SEN
  • EUR – SEPA and SWIFT
  • CAD – Wire transfer, Domestic Wire, In-person cash deposits, SWIFT 
  • AUD – Bank transfer, Osko
  • GBP – BACS and SWIFT (Etana), CHAPS and SWIFT (Bank Frick)
  • CHF – SIC and SWIFT
  • JPY – SWIFT

Deposit fees can be found here, whereas withdrawals are explained on this page.

Kraken vs. Gate.io: Kraken takes this round comfortably.

Instant Buy Options (Buying with a Credit or Debit card)

Make purchases on Gate.io

In 2020, the team here at Coin Clarity predicted that Gate.io would climb from being a top 50 crypto exchange to a top 10 exchange and perhaps even further. We were right, but the credit should go to Gate’s management team for resolving many of the key issues. The biggest problem we found was that there was no way to purchase new coins, so you needed to deposit crypto and trade it. They’ve now partnered with Banxa, Simplex, Mercuryo, and Advcash to launch a price comparison and brokerage portal for card purchases. Another partnership with Legend Trading allows users to buy crypto via bank transfer. There are 18 coins to choose from and charges vary. 

Purchasing crypto on Kraken

Kraken has also been working hard behind the scenes to have a better-stocked market for coins than the other exchanges in this competitive space. As a result, they now offer over 90 cryptocurrencies for direct sale via debit and credit card, more than any known rival. 

The fees for card purchases are 3.75% + €0.25 per transaction, plus a spread that can go as high as 10%. Nevertheless, some clients are seemingly happy to go down this expensive route to get coins, although you can make free deposits of fiat currencies, as explained previously.

Kraken vs. Gate.io: We are calling this one a draw.

Trading Experience

Trading with Gate.io

Trading with Gate grew massively in popularity over the last year, partly due to the volatility of cryptocurrency. Still, largely down to work the platform has been putting in. Traders in the USA and over 100 other countries can enjoy the website and mobile app, the pricing is fair, the KYC limit structure is friendly, it’s easy to spend your capital with their liquidity partners, the digital currencies listed numbers over 800, and there are more than 1,400 trading pairs. In addition, the trading platform is comprehensive, trading volume regularly hits $1 billion in a day, the liquidity is excellent, the withdrawal fee structure is fair, and other exchanges are starting to notice.

The trading experience with Gate Technology is becoming what we predicted it would be, yet we still think it has more to offer to the market in the future. 

Trading with Kraken

The trading experience with Kraken is excellent, and it is designed for all types of traders. The range of crypto coins is curated well, there’s live chat for customer support, and trading is a breeze. However, other exchanges will have to work hard to improve the Kraken Exchange, especially the popular mobile experience. 

Kraken vs. Gate.io: It’s a draw; both crypto exchanges are fantastic.

Kraken margin trading

Reputation and Security

Gate’s history

Users can be confident that Gate.io has never been hacked. It offers a range of personal security features like 2-Factor Authentication and a separate withdrawal password. It’s rated as one of the most secure exchanges globally over the last three years. But, on the other hand, if you look further back, history paints a different picture.

Gate Technology was once called Bter.com, and that platform was hacked for 7,170 BTC due to major security lapses. The team never paid back the investors whose bitcoins were stolen, and when China banned cryptocurrency in the Far East nation, they closed the crypto exchange and went quiet. A few months later, they opened Gate.io and tried to expunge their past errors. Perhaps it’s time to look forward, not backward.

The word on Kraken 

Let’s keep it simple:

  • Recognized as the world’s most secure exchange
  • Total transparency
  • Zero hacks
  • Best personal security autonomy through account settings

Kraken vs. Gate.io: Both are secure, but Kraken is more trustworthy if something goes wrong.

Gate vs Kraken: Who is our winner?

Gate.io is the better pick for the more adventurous beginner, whereas those who want to play it safe should go with Kraken.

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