TL;DR
- Five-tier Liquidity Provider Program launches across Spot, Futures, and xStocks, with maker rebates up to -0.005% (Spot), -0.006% (Futures), and -0.020% (xStocks)
- Share-based qualification: rolling 30-day Maker Contribution Share, not a fixed notional volume minimum
- Credit line eligibility from LP 3, plus 2 exceptions per year and a 2-month grace period at launch
- One tier ladder spans Spot, Futures, and xStocks; qualifying on either product independently unlocks your tier
Why we built this
Our institutional growth depends on liquidity depth across three product verticals: Spot, Futures, and xStocks. Deep, reliable liquidity is core market infrastructure, and infrastructure doesn’t build itself.
We have an installed base of liquidity providers already quoting here, some formally, some informally, none with a structured incentive to deepen their participation. We also have competitors actively recruiting the same liquidity we need, using programs with structural friction we can undercut.
The Kraken Liquidity Provider Program exists to do two things: formalize and reward the liquidity you’re already providing, and remove the gatekeeping dynamics that lock out mid-size operators elsewhere.
The mechanic: share over volume
Most liquidity provider programs gate access behind a fixed notional volume wall, sometimes in the hundreds of millions, before you can even apply. That’s a wall, not a ladder. Our tiers are built on Maker Contribution Share: the percentage of our total maker volume you represent, measured on a rolling 30-day basis, across Spot, Futures, or US Derivatives.
A mid-size participant in a thinner market can hit a sub-1% share threshold and land a real tier without needing to match the largest players’ flow. You’re not competing against a global fixed bar; you’re competing against your actual liquidity contribution to our orderbook.
Five tiers span the ladder, LP 1 through LP 5, with maker rebates improving at each step: up to -0.005% on Spot, -0.006% on Futures, and -0.020% on xStocks at the top tier. You qualify on either Spot or Futures MCS independently: meet the Futures bar and you land the tier, even if Spot is quiet.
Three built-in tolerances
Grace period
When the program launches, your initial tier is assigned based on your total current volume and volume share, not a rolling 30-day calculation. This gives you a clean two-month ramp to stabilize your position before the rolling window kicks in. You’re not penalized for starting in a quiet month.
Exception allowance
Most competitor programs require strict monthly requalification with no published escape hatch. Miss one month, drop a tier, then face the pain of clawing back. We allow 2 performance exceptions per calendar year. Request one before the period ends, and your tier holds for an additional 30-day evaluation window. The allowance is non-consecutive, but it gives you structural room to breathe.
One ladder, three markets
Spot, Futures, and xStocks all feed into the same tier progression. You don’t maintain separate Spot tiers and Futures tiers. You qualify on whichever product is hot that month, and your tier moves with you.
For xStocks specifically, this is a structural advantage: capital markets liquidity doesn’t sit at the largest venues’ scale yet, so a participant can qualify on mid-size xStocks share and still pull top-tier rebates across all three verticals.
Credit line: the retention lever
LP 3 and above unlock credit line eligibility. Few competitor programs bundle credit access into their tiers this way. For firms building cross-asset strategies or running inventory, this is material. Specific terms are bilateral and handled by our institutional team, but you don’t negotiate credit line access separately: it flows from tier.
Trial and ramp
New applicants can request a one-week LP 3 trial before committing to the formal tier ladder. You’ll see the fees and mechanics live, and your trial-week performance determines your actual starting tier. There’s no long-term lock and no friction, just clear sightlines into what you’d actually earn.
What this means for you
If you’re already quoting here, you almost certainly already qualify for at least LP 1. If you’re facing fixed-volume minimums, strict monthly requalification, or tiering with no cross-product credit elsewhere, this program is built for that friction.
We’ve been in this market for 15 years. We’re not running a promo cycle. This program exists to formalize what we believe: deeper liquidity gets rewarded, tiers adjust on performance, and the mechanics stay consistent.
Subject to Program Terms. Tiers evaluated on a rolling 30-day basis.
The post Kraken Liquidity Provider Program: tier your rebates to your volume share, not a fixed number appeared first on Kraken Blog.
