Kraken trading bot and API key setup: connect Kraken safely
Run a Kraken trading bot with a trade-only API key: what agents can automate, key permissions, a security checklist, fees and troubleshooting.
Short answer
You can connect Kraken to TradeCorgi with a trade-only API key, so an agent can place spot orders on your own account but never withdraw. TradeCorgi rejects any key with withdrawal permission, asks you to limit the key to its server addresses, and checks your limits before every order.
What you can automate on Kraken
Describe a rule in plain words and an agent runs it on your Kraken spot account, checking the market at most once a minute.
Dip buys
Buy a set amount when a coin falls a set percentage within a window, such as 5% in 24 hours.
Recurring buys
Buy a fixed amount on a schedule, with a rule that pauses buying after a deep fall.
Take-profit and stop-loss
Sell at a set gain or a set loss from your buy price, on every position the agent opens.
Indicator rules
Act on indicator levels such as RSI, alone or combined with price moves and schedules.
On Copilot you get an alert with a link to Kraken instead, and you place the order yourself.
Create a trade-only Kraken API key
- Log in to Kraken and open Settings, then API, and choose to create a new key.
- Give the key a description you will recognise, such as TradeCorgi.
- Allow Query Funds, Query Open Orders & Trades, Create & Modify Orders and Cancel/Close Orders. Leave Withdraw Funds and deposit permissions off.
- Turn on IP whitelisting and add TradeCorgi's server IP addresses, shown in the app.
- Generate the key and copy the API key and private key into TradeCorgi; Kraken shows the private key only once. We check the permissions before saving it.
What TradeCorgi checks when you connect Kraken
- The key can trade but cannot withdraw. A key with withdrawal permission is rejected.
- The key is limited to TradeCorgi’s server addresses, where Kraken supports it.
- The key works and can read your balances, so the agent knows what it may spend.
- The same checks run again every day. If one fails, your Kraken agents pause and you are told why.
Keys are encrypted with a key unique to you, and are decrypted only inside the service that places orders.
Security checklist for your Kraken key
- Create a separate key just for TradeCorgi, so you can delete it without affecting anything else.
- Allow spot trading only. Leave withdrawals and transfers off.
- Turn on IP whitelisting with the addresses shown in the app.
- Keep two-factor authentication on for your Kraken login.
- Never paste your key or secret into a chat, email or support form.
- Start with a small live budget; in its first week a live agent uses at most 20% of the amount you plan.
- Delete the key on Kraken if you stop using TradeCorgi.
Kraken fees
Every backtest and paper trade uses Kraken’s fee for your account tier and its minimum order size, so a rule that only works before fees never looks good. Your agent pays the same trading fees you would pay placing the orders by hand.
Fees checked on October 27, 2026. Kraken fee schedule
Why traders run agents on Kraken
Kraken is the second exchange TradeCorgi supports in the United States, alongside Coinbase, and a long-standing venue in the EU and many other countries. It is popular with long-term traders: people who buy on a schedule, add on deep falls, and hold.
Those habits suit rules an agent can follow well. A recurring buy with a safety stop, or a dip buy with a firm stop-loss, needs patience and discipline more than speed, and an agent that checks the market at most once a minute has plenty of both.
Kraken, Claude and MCP, and where TradeCorgi fits
In March 2026 Kraken released a command-line tool with MCP support, so assistants such as Claude can place trades on Kraken accounts. It is powerful for developers, but an assistant connected that way has no persistent rules engine, no strategy testing, and no limits beyond what the exchange enforces. Read more in our guide to using Claude as a trading bot.
TradeCorgi keeps the plain-language part and adds the safety layer:
- The language model never places orders. It drafts your strategy card; a rules engine runs only the version you confirmed.
- Limits in code. Budget, stop-loss, daily loss limit and open positions are checked before every order reaches Kraken.
- A reason for every trade, written in your language, with Kraken's fill price.
- Backtests with Kraken's fees for your tier and its minimum order sizes.
Kraken key permissions in plain words
Kraken lets you choose each permission on a key one by one. An agent needs to see your balances and orders, and to create and cancel orders. It never needs to withdraw or move funds, and TradeCorgi rejects any key that can. When you connect, the app lists the permissions it found, so you can see exactly what the key allows.
A worked example on Kraken
A long-term trader's rule: "Buy $40 of ETH every Monday at 09:00 UTC, at most $160 a month, and pause buying when ETH is 15% below my average price, with a $20 daily loss limit." TradeCorgi backtests it on Kraken's ETH/USD history with Kraken's fee for your tier, then runs it on paper with live Kraken prices.
Live, the agent places the Monday buy on your Kraken account, checks the monthly budget and the pause rule before each order, and records every buy and every skipped week with its reason. This is an illustrative example, not a real result.
Who Kraken suits on TradeCorgi
- Traders in the United States and the EU who want a second regulated venue next to Coinbase.
- Long-term buyers running recurring-buy and dip-buy rules on BTC and ETH.
- People who tried trading through an AI assistant and want limits and a decision log on top.
Before you connect
Run your strategy on paper first. When you go live, the agent trades on your own Kraken account with the amount you allow, and in its first week it uses at most 20% of that amount. One tap pauses the agent; "Pause and close" also sells its open positions at market price on Kraken.
How a live agent behaves on Kraken
Paper first
Every strategy runs on paper with Kraken’s live prices before it can trade real money.
Limits before every order
Budget, stop-loss, daily loss limit and open positions are checked before each order reaches Kraken.
A reason for every trade
The decision log records the rule behind each order and the price Kraken actually filled it at.
One tap to stop
Pause an agent, or pause it and sell its open positions at market price on Kraken.
Troubleshooting
- The key was rejected when I connected it
- The key most likely has withdrawal permission, or no trading permission. Create a new key with spot trading only and try again.
- The connection fails after I added IP whitelisting
- Check that every address shown in the app is on the key exactly, with nothing else. A missing address blocks some requests.
- My agent paused and says the key failed
- The key was deleted, expired or changed on Kraken. Your funds and positions stay on Kraken. Connect a new key to resume.
- My agent paused during maintenance
- Agents pause when Kraken is under maintenance or prices are more than 2 minutes old, and tell you why. Check Kraken’s status page, then resume.
- My agent paused with a position mismatch
- The agent’s record no longer matches your Kraken account, for example after a trade placed by hand on the same coin. Review the positions, then resume.
- An order was skipped as too small
- Kraken sets a minimum order size for each market. Raise the amount per order in your strategy card.
Kraken questions
Can TradeCorgi withdraw from my Kraken account?
No. A key with withdrawal permission is rejected when you connect it and on every daily check. Your funds stay on your Kraken account.
Which Kraken key permissions does TradeCorgi need?
Permission to query funds and orders, and to create and cancel orders. Never withdrawal. The app shows exactly which permissions it found when you connect.
Can I use TradeCorgi with Kraken in the United States?
Yes. Kraken is one of the two exchanges TradeCorgi shows to US users, with Coinbase.
What happens if I delete the key on Kraken?
Your agents on Kraken pause and tell you the key failed. Your funds and open positions stay on your Kraken account.
Can agents trade Kraken futures or margin?
No. Agents trade spot only, with no leverage, on every exchange.
Can I use Claude with Kraken directly instead?
Yes, through Kraken's command-line tool with MCP support. TradeCorgi adds what that does not: limits checked before every order, a written reason for each trade, backtests with fees, and no code.
Does TradeCorgi earn anything from Kraken?
Kraken may pay TradeCorgi a share of trading fees when you open an account through our links. It never changes your fees and never changes how your agents trade.