Kraken introduces crypto perps trading to 'everyday investors'

Crypto exchange Kraken is introducing a new product familiar to many crypto traders — perpetuals. This represents the exchange's latest product expansion as it reportedly gears up for a public listing as early as the first quarter of 2026. 

Kraken Perps, being made available for certain eligible retail traders in certain jurisdictions on Thursday, are a type of futures contract enabling traders to make "high-conviction" bets on future events. The company initially launched perpetual contracts via Kraken Pro.

"With Kraken Perps, you can act on these predictions," the company wrote in a statement. "Perps are trading instruments designed to let you speculate on future price movements — up or down — without owning the asset involved."

Critically, unlike other derivatives, perps have no expiration date, allowing traders to hold positions indefinitely as long as margin requirements are met. It's a type of trading instrument often credited to the crypto industry.

Perps were first introduced by BitMEX in 2016 as a derivative product tailored for crypto's volatility and round-the-clock trading cycles. Unlike traditional futures with an expiration date that can diverge from underlying spot market prices, perps typically use a funding rate mechanism to anchor the contract price to the spot market.

The product has since spread to other platforms and assets. Perps volumes have grown substantially in recent years, with the Hyperliquid trading platform accounting for the vast majority of trading activity, according to The Block’s data.

August 2025 represented the most popular month on record for crypto perps trading, with nearly $515 billion in total volume. 

Kraken noted its perps, which are being pitched to "everyday investors," have some "built-in protections," including a stop-loss function to limit potential downside losses if "the market moves in the opposite way to how you predicted." The latest retail offering "provides a new, simplified way for a broader range of eligible everyday investors to access perps through the Kraken mobile app," a spokesperson told The Block.

"Perps aren't about becoming a day trader. It’s about having more ways and the right tools to express your views on the market, manage risk, or add an extra layer of strategy to your portfolio," Kraken said. 

At launch, retail traders will be able to use their Kraken USD balances for collateral, with additional assets to follow. 

On Wednesday, Kraken said it has finally rolled out its tokenized xStock product across the EU. Meanwhile, last week, the exchange disclosed it acquired the proprietary trading platform Breakout. The exchange is also incubating an Ethereum Layer 2, called INK, which plans to launch a token. 

Update (Sept. 11, 2025): Clarifies that perps launched initially on the Kraken Pro platform.