How to trade on Kraken
If you have accounts on multiple exchanges, you can connect and manage them all on Cryptowatch.
You can connect your exchange accounts by generating API keys on the exchange site, then plugging those keys into Cryptowatch’s Exchange Keys page. See this article for some tips on API key security, if you haven’t already.
Trading on Kraken with Cryptowatch
Cryptowatch offers a lot of tools that can enhance your trading on Kraken. You can:
Do technical analysis and chart drawings while you trade
View real-time order book and trade history feeds
Track your balances across multiple exchanges in real-time on the Portfolio page
Receive SMS and email alerts for price and volume and order-fills
Create and save custom themes
Stream prices and order books with the Market Data WebSocket API
Pull market data into Google Sheets with the Cryptofinance.ai plugin
Automate orders and alerts using triggers and actions with Zapier integration
Connecting your Kraken Account to Cryptowatch
Before we do anything, you will need at least a Starter-level Kraken account. You can sign up for one at Kraken.com.
In Cryptowatch, click the profile icon in the top-right corner, then select Exchange Keys from the menu:
The Exchange Keys page is where you can plug in API keys from trading- and portfolio-enabled exchanges into Cryptowatch:
Cryptowatch connects to your exchange accounts using the public and private keys generated by the exchange. API keys generally come in pairs — one public key, and one private (like a crypto wallet). As you will see soon, these keys can be set up to allow or disallow different actions.
Open Kraken.com in another tab to start creating new API keys.
Click your profile menu in the top-right of the page, and select Settings > API:
This will take you to the Kraken API Management page:
Click Add key in the top-right corner of the white box, then give the key a relevant description — like “Cryptowatch”, for example.
Next, choose the permissions granted to your API key.
You can set your permissions like this:
To trade via Cryptowatch you will need to check the Query Funds box and all boxes under Orders & Trades and Ledger.
We strongly recommend against permitting deposit and withdrawal actions to the API key. These actions cannot be performed on Cryptowatch and expose you to unnecessary risk.
You can use the Query Start Date/Time and Query End Date/Time options to manage how far back or forward in your trading history the key can look. You may also use the Key Expiration tool to set a time for the key to stop working.
When you’re ready, click the Generate Key button.
Save the public and private keys in Cryptowatch.
If the key generates successfully you will see a page like the one below. If there was an issue, you will need to start over by generating a new key.
These strings of letters, numbers and symbols are your Public and Private keys. Copy the topmost “API Key” and paste it into the API Key field back on the Cryptowatch Exchange Keys page.
Copy the code labeled “Private Key” and paste it into the API Secret field on the Cryptowatch Exchange Keys page. Cryptowatch will automatically connect to your Kraken account once the second key is entered. You can find the Exchange Keys page again by clicking My Account in the top-right of any page on Cryptowatch, then selecting Exchange Keys.
A successful connection will change the box’s color and hide the key information, like below.
If you received an Invalid Key, Unprivileged Key, Key Not Exclusive, or Unhandled error, visit the How to connect exchange accounts article for troubleshooting tips.
