Kraken Pro Rolls Out Forex Perpetual Futures

Crypto exchange Kraken has added foreign exchange (forex) perpetual futures to its Kraken Pro platform, giving users new ways to trade global currencies alongside digital assets.

The first contracts—euro/U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) and British pound/U.S. dollar (GBP/USD)—went live on April 18. Both offer up to 20x leverage and can be held without a fixed end date, unlike standard futures which expire on a set schedule.

This addition builds on Kraken’s earlier push into forex, which began in 2020 with spot trading for major currency pairs outside the U.S.

The move makes Kraken, currently the world’s 13th largest centralized exchange by volume, one of the few crypto-native platforms bridging the gap between digital and traditional markets.

The platform’s expansion continues to blur the lines between crypto and conventional finance. In recent months, Kraken signed a $1.5 billion deal to acquire retail futures platform NinjaTrader to bring crypto futures to U.S. users once the deal closes in the first half of 2025.

The company announced earlier this month that U.S. clients in ten jurisdictions — including New Jersey, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia — can now trade over 11,000 stocks and ETFs commission-free through their Kraken accounts. The rollout is part of what Kraken describes as a “phased national expansion,” with more states to follow in the coming months.

Kraken also teamed up with Mastercard to release a crypto debit card that works for everyday spending.

Kraken’s new offering arrives at a time of growing demand for unified trading platforms. The company says its long-term goal is to bring traditional and digital assets together under a single infrastructure, using blockchain as the foundation for cross-asset trading.

Kraken’s entrance into the equity space brings it into more direct competition with fintech platforms like Robinhood.

On the funding side, the company is reportedly preparing to raise up to $1 billion ahead of a possible public offering, with the IPO expected as early as the first quarter of 2026.