TL;DR
- Kraken launched perpetual contracts for eligible clients in certain jurisdictions, allowing them to take long or short positions without owning the underlying assets.
- The contracts include customizable stop-loss orders and educational materials, providing tools to manage risk and adjust positions dynamically.
- The company has rolled out tokenized stocks in Europe, completed the acquisition of Breakout, and is advancing the development of INK on Ethereum with its own native token.
Kraken launched perpetual contracts for clients in selected jurisdictions with the goal of expanding its derivatives offering and bringing a key crypto market instrument to a wider user base.
Known as Perps, these contracts let users take long or short positions on various digital assets without owning them and without an expiration date, as long as margin requirements are met.
Perps first appeared in 2016 with BitMEX and quickly became a core product for crypto trading due to their ability to adapt to the market’s volatility and continuous trading cycles. Unlike traditional futures, which expire on a set date and can diverge from spot market prices, perpetual contracts use funding mechanisms to keep their value close to the underlying asset. In August 2025, they hit a record volume of nearly $515 billion traded, confirming their growing importance in the industry.
Kraken aims to create a beginner-friendly platform
Kraken seeks to stand out by offering a more accessible interface and features designed for users who are not necessarily advanced traders. The platform added customizable stop-loss orders that limit potential losses if the market moves against a position. It also announced that the launch will be supported by educational materials explaining how the contracts work and how to use them responsibly. At launch, clients can use USD balances as collateral, with plans to add more assets in the coming months.
The offering provides greater flexibility to express market convictions and manage risk dynamically. A user who expects Bitcoin to rise can open a long position on a perpetual contract and close it at any time if their prediction proves correct. Likewise, someone anticipating a price drop can open a short position and profit from the decline.
The launch of Kraken Perps complements other recent company initiatives, including the introduction of tokenized stocks in the European Union, the acquisition of the Breakout platform, and the development of INK, an Ethereum Layer 2 network planning to issue its own token
