Kraken · Rate Limits

Kraken Rate Limits

Kraken enforces request-rate policies separately per surface. The Spot REST private API uses a per-key "API counter" that increments on every call and decays over time at a tier-dependent rate; the counter's maximum value determines burst capacity, and the per-second decay determines steady-state throughput. The Spot REST public API is throttled per IP. Spot WebSocket subscriptions are rate-limited per connection (token-bucket on subscribe / unsubscribe / trading calls). Kraken Futures uses a separate per-key counter with its own ceiling and decay. Institutional / colocation clients can negotiate raised limits. All over-limit responses use HTTP 429 (REST) or a WebSocket `EAPI:Rate limit exceeded` error frame.

Kraken Rate Limits is the machine-readable rate-limit profile for Kraken on the APIs.io network, conforming to the API Commons Rate Limits specification.

It captures 16 rate-limit definitions, measuring requests_per_minute, api_counter, trade_counter, requests_per_second, and concurrent_requests.

The profile also includes 9 backoff/retry policies defined and response codes documented for throttled, unauthorized, serverBusy, and websocketRateLimit.

Tagged areas include Rate Limiting, Cryptocurrency, Exchange, API Counter, and WebSocket.

16 Limits Throttle: 429
Rate LimitingCryptocurrencyExchangeAPI CounterWebSocket

Limits

Spot REST — Public endpoints (Time, Ticker, OHLC, Depth, Trades, Spread, Assets, AssetPairs, SystemStatus) IP
requests_per_minute
approx. 60 requests / 10 seconds per IP; bursts above this return 429
Kraken does not publish a hard per-IP limit; observed behavior is roughly 1 RPS sustained per IP with short bursts to ~5 RPS before throttling.
Spot REST — Private (Verified Tier, Starter) key
api_counter
15 max counter, decay 0.33 per second
Each call adds 1 (most endpoints) or 2 (Add/Cancel single order) or 4 (Ledgers, TradesHistory, ClosedOrders) to the counter. Counter resets via decay only.
Spot REST — Private (Verified Tier, Intermediate) key
api_counter
20 max counter, decay 0.50 per second
Spot REST — Private (Verified Tier, Pro) key
api_counter
20 max counter, decay 1.0 per second
Spot REST — Trading endpoints rapid-fire (AddOrder, EditOrder, CancelOrder) key
trade_counter
per-pair rapid-cancel counter; over-limit returns EAPI:Rate limit exceeded
A separate "rapid-cancel" counter discourages thrashing the order book. Penalty values scale with order lifetime — orders cancelled within 5 seconds carry higher counter cost.
Spot WebSocket v2 — public subscriptions connection
requests_per_second · second
50
Per-connection burst limit on subscribe/unsubscribe frames.
Spot WebSocket v2 — authenticated trading methods (add_order, amend_order, cancel_order, batch_*) token
api_counter
same per-tier API counter as Spot REST private trading
Spot WebSocket v2 — connections per IP IP
concurrent_requests
150
Reconnect with exponential backoff when EAPI:Connection limit exceeded is returned.
Spot WebSockets Token endpoint key
api_counter
1 per call (counts against private REST counter); tokens are valid for 15 minutes
Kraken Futures REST — public endpoints IP
requests_per_second · second
100
Kraken Futures REST — private endpoints (Standard) key
cost_per_minute · minute
500 cost units per minute (per-endpoint cost 1–25)
Kraken Futures REST — private endpoints (VIP / Colocation) key
cost_per_minute
raised via institutional support; typically 2x – 10x Standard
Kraken Futures WebSocket connection
requests_per_second · second
200
NFT REST endpoints key
api_counter
shares the Spot private API counter (same per-tier ceiling and decay)
Earn REST endpoints key
api_counter
shares the Spot private API counter; Allocate/Deallocate add 1 to the counter
FIX session — orders per second session
requests_per_second
negotiated per institutional onboarding (typically 100+ orders/sec)

Policies

API counter decay
Each private REST call increments a per-key counter; the counter decays at the per-tier rate (Starter 0.33/s, Intermediate 0.50/s, Pro 1.0/s). When the counter exceeds its ceiling the next call returns `EAPI:Rate limit exceeded` (HTTP 429 with a JSON error envelope).
Endpoint weighting
Not all endpoints cost the same. Heavy history endpoints (Ledgers, TradesHistory, ClosedOrders) add 2-4 to the counter while trading endpoints (AddOrder, CancelOrder) add 0-1. Plan request mixes accordingly.
Rapid-cancel penalty
Orders cancelled within 5 seconds of placement carry an elevated cost on a separate per-pair counter to discourage book-thrashing strategies. Hold orders longer or use AmendOrder/EditOrder for fewer adjustments.
Exponential backoff on 429 / WS rate-limit frames
On HTTP 429 or a WebSocket `EAPI:Rate limit exceeded` frame, back off with exponential delay (start 1s, double up to 60s) before retrying. Do not parse `Retry-After` as authoritative; it is advisory.
Tier upgrade
Move from Starter → Intermediate by completing identity verification and from Intermediate → Pro by completing extended verification (proof of residence + source of funds). The tier upgrade automatically raises the per-key API counter ceiling and decay rate.
Institutional uplift
VIP and institutional clients can request raised limits through their account manager. Co-located clients on colo-london.* get materially higher throughput and lower latency.
WebSocket reconnect strategy
Reconnect with exponential backoff on disconnect. Reauthenticate with a fresh WebSockets token (REST /private/GetWebSocketsToken) if the prior token has expired. Resubscribe to channels after reconnect.
Cancel-on-Disconnect
For algorithmic clients, enable cancel-on-disconnect (Spot WS) and/or arm the CancelAllOrdersAfter dead-man's switch so a disconnect or rate penalty cannot leave runaway orders in the book.
Per-IP connection cap
Open at most ~150 WebSocket connections per IP. Co-located VIP connections share that ceiling per source IP unless raised by support.

Sources

Work with this as data

Every rate limit here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.

MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

https://apis.io/mcp

Tools for rate limits

4 MCP tools reach this
  • find_rate_limitsBrowse and filter every rate limit in the catalog.
  • apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
  • resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
  • find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.
All 92 tools →

Call it yourself

curl for this page
This rate limit 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/rate-limits/kraken-rate-limits"
All rate limits 
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/rate-limits?limit=25"

Discovery needs no key. Ratings and market analysis are Pro.

Get an API key

Free tier, no form to fill in. Signing in shares your email address with us — we store it to create your key and to recognise you if you sign in with another provider. See our Privacy Policy and Terms.

GitHub Google LinkedIn

A second provider on the same verified email joins the account you already have.