Kraken Enters Funded Trading With New Prop Program After Breakout Acquisition

Kraken has launched a proprietary trading program that allows crypto traders to access firm capital after completing an evaluation. It marks the exchange’s entry into the growing funded trading segment.

The new service, dubbed Kraken Prop, enables traders to operate with up to $200,000 in company-backed funds while keeping up to 90% of generated profits.

Introducing Kraken Prop ⚡Trade with Kraken’s capital and keep up to 90% of your profitsYour downside is capped at a one-time evaluation feeThe upside is based entirely on how you performhttps://t.co/Q7T52CH1Da pic.twitter.com/FIzaXZ6CwC

The move now extends Kraken’s product suite beyond exchange services and into trader funding, a model widely used in traditional finance and likely to be seen more in crypto.

Evaluation-Based Access to Capital

According to Wednesday’s announcement, Kraken requires traders to complete an evaluation before receiving funding. Participants choose account sizes between $5,000 and $200,000 and trade in a simulated environment that mirrors live market conditions.

Funded traders retain 80% of profits by default, with an option to increase the share to 90%. Kraken allows withdrawals at any time, with payouts processed within 24 hours.

Related: Kraken Enters Prop Trading: Breakout Acquisition Gives Funded Accounts

The program reportedly provides access to more than 60 cryptocurrency pairs, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, with leverage of up to 5x. Traders use the same platform and tools available on Kraken Pro during both evaluation and funded stages.

Last year Kraken entered prop after it bought Breakout, a crypto-native proprietary trading firm that offers funded accounts to traders who pass an evaluation. The deal made Kraken the first cryptocurrency exchange to step directly into the prop trading arena, combining its existing exchange infrastructure with Breakout’s evaluation-based model so traders can access capital and trade crypto without using their own funds.

“Breakout gives us a way to allocate capital based on proof of skill rather than access to capital itself. In a world that is rapidly shifting from who you know to what you know, we want to build systems that reward demonstrated performance, not pedigree,” commented Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken.

Leading Crypto Exchanges Into Prop?

Kraken is so far the only major crypto exchange that has directly entered prop trading. Other large exchanges have been active on the mergers and acquisition front but in adjacent areas like derivatives platforms and brokerages, not pure prop firms with evaluation-based retail funding.

For example, Coinbase bought Deribit for derivatives capacity rather than to run a retail prop evaluation model, while Crypto.com and Coincheck have focused on licenses and brokerage acquisitions.