> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kraken.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Exchange overview

> Spot and Derivatives trading APIs — REST, WebSocket, and FIX for algorithmic trading, market making, and HFT

Kraken's Exchange APIs give you programmatic access to two separate trading engines — **Spot** and **Derivatives** — each with its own endpoints, rate limits, and authentication flows.

## Markets

|                 | Spot                                                            | Derivatives                                          |
| :-------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------- |
| Markets         | 700+ crypto pairs                                               | Perpetuals and dated contracts on BTC, ETH, and more |
| Order types     | Limit, market, stop, take-profit, trailing stop, IOC, post-only | Limit, market, stop, take-profit, IOC                |
| Base URL (REST) | `https://api.kraken.com`                                        | `https://futures.kraken.com`                         |
| WebSocket       | `wss://ws.kraken.com/v2`                                        | `wss://futures.kraken.com/ws/v1`                     |
| Sandbox         | UAT available on request via Account Manager                    | `https://demo-futures.kraken.com` (self-service)     |

## Protocols

All three protocols are available for both Spot and Derivatives, but with different capabilities on each engine.

| Protocol      | Best for                                                                           |
| :------------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **REST**      | Account operations, funding, one-off queries                                       |
| **WebSocket** | Real-time market data, order management, and balance updates                       |
| **FIX 4.4**   | Institutional and HFT — deterministic sequencing, cancel-on-disconnect, colocation |

See [Choose your protocol](/exchange/guides/general/api-comparison) for a full feature matrix, latency comparison, and guidance on which protocol to use.

## Workflows

| Workflow                | What you need                                            | Where to start                                               |
| :---------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Market data**         | Public endpoints — no API key needed                     | REST `GET /0/public/*` or WebSocket public channels          |
| **Algorithmic trading** | Private order endpoints + real-time execution data       | REST or WebSocket v2 `executions` channel                    |
| **Market making**       | Low-latency order entry, live book, cancel-on-disconnect | WebSocket v2 or FIX                                          |
| **Account management**  | Balances, ledger, funding                                | REST private endpoints                                       |
| **HFT**                 | Deterministic sequencing, colocation, FIX replay         | FIX 4.4 or WebSocket (Spot); REST or WebSocket (Derivatives) |
| **Sub-accounts**        | Multi-account management                                 | REST `CreateSubaccount`, FIX Tags 78/79                      |
| **Earn**                | Allocate/deallocate to staking products                  | REST Earn endpoints                                          |

## Feature matrix

| Feature      | Spot REST | Spot WebSocket | Spot FIX | Derivatives REST | Derivatives WebSocket | Derivatives FIX |
| :----------- | :-------: | :------------: | :------: | :--------------: | :-------------------: | :-------------: |
| Market data  |     ✅     |        ✅       |     ✅    |         ✅        |           ✅           |        ✅        |
| Order entry  |     ✅     |        ✅       |     ✅    |         ✅        |           —           |        ✅        |
| Account data |     ✅     |        ✅       |     —    |         ✅        |           ✅           |        —        |
| Funding      |     ✅     |        —       |     —    |         ✅        |           —           |        —        |
| Earn         |     ✅     |        —       |     —    |         —        |           —           |        —        |
| Subaccounts  |     ✅     |        —       |     —    |         ✅        |           —           |        —        |

## Performance and hosting

For latency-sensitive strategies, Kraken offers connectivity options from AWS London (\~2 ms) to direct colocation at Equinix London (\~200 μs). See [Colocation and connectivity](/exchange/guides/general/colocation) for the full breakdown.

## Getting started

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Choose your protocol" icon="table" href="/exchange/guides/general/api-comparison">
    Detailed comparison of REST, WebSocket, and FIX for each market
  </Card>

  <Card title="API key permissions" icon="key" href="/exchange/guides/rest/api-keys">
    Understand which permissions to enable for your use case
  </Card>

  <Card title="Authentication" icon="lock" href="/exchange/guides/rest/authentication">
    Nonce management and HMAC-SHA512 signature generation
  </Card>

  <Card title="Order lifecycle" icon="arrows-spin" href="/exchange/guides/general/order-lifecycle">
    How order states and transitions work across all protocols
  </Card>

  <Card title="Error reference" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/exchange/guides/general/errors">
    Common errors and how to fix them
  </Card>

  <Card title="Rate limits" icon="gauge" href="/exchange/guides/general/ratelimits">
    How rate limits work across REST, WebSocket, and FIX
  </Card>
</CardGroup>