> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kraken-sandbox.mintlify.site/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>