Kraken wants trading tools plugged into its API, and it's paying for the privilege

Photo: John Barkiple / Unsplash

Kraken launched an API Partner Program in mid-July, offering a lifetime revenue-share to trading terminals, order management systems and other tools that route order flow through its spot, futures and xStocks infrastructure.

What it offers

Any platform that integrates Kraken's API and sends it trading volume gets an ongoing cut of the revenue that volume generates, for as long as the integration stays active. It's aimed squarely at the category of software Cresori sits in: tools that connect to a broker's API rather than building their own exchange.

Why this matters if you use Cresori

Kraken isn't one of the seven brokers Cresori connects to today, and this program wouldn't change how Cresori works even if it were, Cresori reads your account data, it doesn't route orders or generate trading volume, so a revenue-share-for-order-flow deal isn't the kind of integration we'd take. Worth flagging anyway because it's a signal of where broker integration incentives are heading: exchanges are increasingly willing to pay third-party tools to bring them volume, which shapes which tools get built and who they answer to. Read the terms carefully on anything that offers to pay you for how you route trades.

Sources: Kraken Blog.