Kraken switched on Kraken Prop on May 27, 2026, becoming the first major crypto exchange to run a retail, evaluation-based proprietary-trading program directly inside its own platform. The product lets traders pass a paid skills test, receive up to $200,000 in funded capital, and keep as much as 90% of the profits — without risking their own balance.

The launch is not a standalone experiment. It is the consumer-facing output of an acquisition Kraken closed in September 2025, wired into a Kraken Pro platform that the company has spent roughly $2 billion building out through an aggressive 2025–2026 M&A run.

Kraken Prop: How It Works

Kraken Prop is operated by Payward Oceanic Ltd, a Kraken subsidiary, and is built into Kraken Pro. The mechanics inherit directly from Breakout, the firm Kraken acquired to power it.

  • Launch date: May 27, 2026
  • Operator: Payward Oceanic Ltd (Kraken subsidiary)
  • Account sizes: $5,000–$200,000 across six wallet tiers
  • Evaluation fee: From $20, non-refundable (refunded on first withdrawal, per Breakout)
  • Profit split: 80% standard; 90% via upgrade
  • Markets: 60+ crypto pairs, traded as perpetuals (BTC, ETH, altcoins)
  • Leverage: Up to 5x on BTC/ETH; 2:1 on altcoins
  • Account rules: No time limit, no consistency rule, no profit cap, no strategy restrictions
  • Funding speed: Roughly 12–24 hours after passing
  • Payouts: On-demand, typically within 24 hours, paid in USDC
  • Max funded capital: $200,000 aggregate per trader
  • Platform: Breakout Terminal only (no MT4, MT5, or TradingView)
  • Regulatory status: Described as unregulated

The structure is deliberately permissive by prop-firm standards. Most evaluation firms layer on consistency rules, minimum trading days, and profit caps; Kraken Prop applies none of those. A trader buys an evaluation, hits a profit target without breaching the drawdown limit, and gets funded — often, on the one-step path, on the strength of a single strong trade. The trade-offs are the platform lock to the Breakout Terminal, leverage capped well below offshore-derivatives norms, and an aggregate funding ceiling of $200,000.

The Strategy Behind the Launch

Kraken Prop arrives in the middle of the most consequential stretch in Kraken’s 15-year history. Under co-CEOs Arjun Sethi and David Ripley, Kraken has been assembling an “any asset, anytime” trading platform and lining up to go public.

In November 2025 the company raised $800 million across two tranches at a $20 billion valuation — up roughly a third from the $15 billion mark it carried just two months earlier. The investor list included Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Citadel Securities, which added a strategic $200 million in the second tranche, and Germany’s Deutsche Börse, which took a 1.5% stake for approximately $200 million.

Kraken confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC on November 19, 2025, targeting a Q1 2026 IPO — a timeline the company later paused amid choppy market conditions, with parent Payward reported in May 2026 to be raising again at the same $20 billion valuation.

Source: Kraken Launches In-House Funded Trader Program Ahead of IPO Push