Crypto exchange Kraken Pro raised maximum leverage on BTC and ETH perpetual futures from 50x to 100x on Friday, the company said. The change applies to two contracts, PF_XBTUSD and PF_ETHUSD, and is live immediately for existing futures traders in eligible geographies outside the EU and US. No account migration or opt-in is required.
The leverage increase is limited to Kraken Pro’s two most liquid perpetual books. All other perpetual contracts, including SOL, AVAX and DOGE, remain unchanged. Both affected contracts are cash-settled in USD and trade around the clock.
The higher cap reduces initial margin requirements on the affected contracts. At 100x leverage, a 1% move against a position equals the position’s initial margin before maintenance margin and fees, leaving less room before liquidation.
The 100x headline rate applies only to the lowest notional tier. For BTC, that means positions up to $1 million. For ETH, up to $500,000. Beyond those thresholds, maximum leverage scales down automatically by tranche.
Kraken described the structure as working “per tranche, not as a binary switch.” A $2 million BTC position, for example, gets 100x on the first $1 million and 50x on the next $1 million, with the blended effective leverage adjusting accordingly. At the top end, positions above $150 million on either contract are capped at 2x.
Kraken’s blog describes the product as available to “Rest of World” customers on Kraken Pro. EU and US users are excluded. UK retail clients already face separate derivatives restrictions under Kraken’s licensing terms.
Kraken’s support documentation, which still described its derivatives platform as offering up to 50x leverage as recently as February, also states that its Equity Protection Process prevents trader account balances from going below zero.
