Head to head · Exchange market data · October 2026 research run
Bithumb Open API vs Kraken API
Kraken API scores 71 (BB) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do exchange market data.
Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents · All 210 exchanges comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for KRW-market trading for agents acting for a verified Korean account, with a vendor-built MCP server, CLI and skills.
No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.
Watch for
No sandbox or testnet; every order uses real funds
Kraken API BB
Best for An agent that trades spot, xStocks, forex or futures on a person's Kraken account from a local machine, with paper trading to test first and an approval gate on live orders.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 67 against 34
- Schema & documentation, 80 against 64
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 67
- Security & auth, 80 against 60
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 69
- Transparency & trust, 65 against 47
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
No self-service spot sandbox; the spot UAT environment is on request through an account manager, and paper trading lives in the CLI
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Reliability Kraken API +33
Bithumb Open API 34
Read with the hosted lines. No status page found on apidocs.bithumb.com or in llms.txt; wallet-status and notices endpoints stand in (0). No readable incident history, though two notices record a public WebSocket interruption and a brief service break (5). Rate limits documented per category with numbers, updated 27 October 2026 (15). A breach is described only as a temporary restriction, with no status code, header or Retry-After, and no client order id or idempotency key is documented; 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error say to retry later (4 of 15). No SLA found (0). The API is generally available; the MCP server and CLI are at 0.8.5 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 4 + 0 + 10 = 34.
Kraken API 67
Read with the hosted lines on the spot API. status.kraken.com is a Statuspage site with REST, WebSocket and FIX components (20). The incidents feed read covers 4 September to 3 November 2026. On 30 October spot and derivatives clients could not connect or submit orders across web, mobile, REST, WebSocket and FIX for 59 minutes 39 seconds, rated minor by Kraken; on 28 October some FIX clients were rejected on reconnection for 1 hour 59 minutes while other interfaces worked; the futures engine was degraded for 3 minutes on 13 October. A whole-exchange order outage 21 seconds short of an hour is read as one major (10 of 30). Numeric limits per key by tier and per pair for the matching engine (15). EAPI:Rate limit exceeded and EService:Throttled with a retry timestamp, a client order id and a validate flag on orders, but no Retry-After header (12 of 15). No SLA (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 67.
Payments & pricing Kraken API +25
Bithumb Open API 15
No machine payment protocol (0). The fee page timed out on every attempt, so no price is recorded (0 of 20, unchecked). Public market data needs no key, card or account; trading needs a verified Korean account. Judgement call (15 of 20). A person must sign up, pass identity checks and issue keys in the browser (0). 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 15.
Kraken API 40
No machine payment protocol (0). Maker and taker fees by tier published without login (20). Public market data, paper trading and the futures demo need no account or card (20). A person signs up, verifies and mints a key or approves the OAuth sign-in (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.
Security & auth Kraken API +20
Bithumb Open API 60
Keys scoped to chosen permissions, mandatory registered IPs, one-year expiry, a JWT per request and a key-list endpoint with expiry (26 of 30). Read-only keys, --read-only on the MCP server, per-profile read_only on the CLI, a second factor on KRW deposits and withdrawals, and skills that refuse to switch profiles to bypass read-only; nothing server-side confirms an order (16 of 20). The API returns exchange data and the disclaimer warns about prompt injection through third-party plugins (11 of 15). A local audit log for CLI and MCP calls and a key-list endpoint; no server-side per-call log (7 of 15). security.txt timed out and no disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0 of 20, security.txt unchecked). 26 + 16 + 11 + 7 + 0 = 60.
Kraken API 80
Keys with nine named permissions, optional expiry, IP restriction and nonce window, plus an OAuth sign-in from the CLI (authorisation code with PKCE, public client) that mints a no-withdrawal key expiring within 90 days or a read-only key (30). Read-only and no-withdrawal keys, position limits and pair allowlists in account settings, and MCP approval prompts for 33 dangerous tools (18 of 20). The API returns no untrusted content; the CLI docs warn that the feedback tool uploads a local file without approval (10). Keys and their permissions are listed in settings and ledgers record activity, but no per-call log for the operator was found (6 of 15). A valid security.txt, a bug bounty policy page, SECURITY.md and a secure SDLC workflow in the CLI; certifications not read (16 of 20). 30 + 18 + 10 + 6 + 16 = 80.
Transparency & trust Kraken API +18
Bithumb Open API 47
The editorial half. A closed service whose terms couldn't be read (timeouts and a title-only page); the kit is MIT with a disclaimer naming Bithumb Co., Ltd. (10 of 30). No privacy policy read (0 of 30, unchecked). Dated retirement of WebSocket Private v1 and effective dates on breaking notices (14 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement read (0 of 20). 10 + 0 + 14 + 0 = 24.
Kraken API 65
The editorial half. A closed service with clear terms naming regional Payward entities under California law; the CLI is MIT (15 of 30). The privacy notice was not read (5 of 30). The changelog dates deprecations and the terms carry a last-updated date (16 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement read (0 of 20). 15 + 5 + 16 + 0 = 36.
Schema & documentation Kraken API +16
Bithumb Open API 64
No OpenAPI found; the reference is a readme.io site with Markdown twins, and the MCP tool schemas weren't read since the server's source isn't published (5 of 25). llms.txt on apidocs.bithumb.com (10). Reference pages state purpose and the skills say when to use each module and when not to (15 of 20). Typed parameters with enums for side, order type and time in force (10 of 15). Examples in several languages and an error-code page with names, statuses and meanings (12 of 15). Versions per endpoint (v1, v2, v2.1.5) and notices with effective dates (12 of 15). 5 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 12 + 12 = 64.
Kraken API 80
No OpenAPI file was found for the REST API in the docs read; the CLI's agents/tool-catalog.json gives JSON Schema inputs for all 188 commands and the 152 MCP tools (15 of 25). The docs serve Markdown twins such as quickstart.md and the CLI ships llms.txt, AGENTS.md and CONTEXT.md (10). Endpoint pages and guides on order lifecycle, errors and rate limits say what each call does, with less on when not to use one (15 of 20). Enums for order types, time in force and flags, and enums and required fields in the tool catalogue (12 of 15). Python, Node.js and cURL examples, an errors guide and the CLI's error-catalog.json with retry guidance (13 of 15). A changelog of 120 dated entries with deprecations dated (15). 15 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 13 + 15 = 80.
Agent ergonomics Kraken API +12
Bithumb Open API 67
Graded on the REST API with the MCP server. 41 tools in all, selectable by module, so 15 for 11 to 30 or more and 8 added back for the module switch (23 of 25). Candle counts, order paging and a 200-market cap on the ticker (13 of 20). Stable error.name values with retry guidance for order_not_ready and server_error (14 of 20). No client order id or idempotency key documented; the CLI's per-profile read-only flag, the MCP --read-only flag and the skills' read-only gate help, and readOnlyHint annotations weren't checked (9 of 20). Few required parameters, but no official SDK beyond the CLI and a CCXT guide (8 of 15). 23 + 13 + 14 + 9 + 8 = 67.
Kraken API 79
The MCP server loads services with -s, defaults to no live trading, and its 152 tool definitions average about 520 characters; the REST API takes count, limit and pair filters but has no field selection (18 of 25). Cursor pagination on ledgers and trades since 30 September and 6 October 2026, with ofs deprecated (17 of 20). Prefixed error strings such as EOrder:Rate limit exceeded and EAPI:Invalid nonce, and the CLI's error catalogue says which to retry (17 of 20). cl_ord_id and validate on orders, destructive_hint and elicitation on dangerous MCP tools, no idempotency key on REST (16 of 20). An official Rust SDK at 5 stars, a Go module and example clients, HMAC-SHA512 signing with a strict nonce (11 of 15). 18 + 17 + 17 + 16 + 11 = 79.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Bithumb Open API | Kraken API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 34 | 67 | Kraken API +33 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 64 | 80 | Kraken API +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 67 | 79 | Kraken API +12 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 60 | 80 | Kraken API +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 15 | 40 | Kraken API +25 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 69 | 81 | Kraken API +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 47 | 65 | Kraken API +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | D 50.6/100 | BB 71/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Bithumb Open API | Kraken API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Bithumb Co., Ltd. | Payward, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary hosted service under Kraken's Global Terms of Service (30 October 2026). kraken-cli, which carries the kraken-mcp server, is MIT |
| Tools exposed | 41 | 152 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-21 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 6 stars | 795 stars |
Verdicts
Bithumb Open API
Bithumb runs an official local MCP server with 41 tools, module selection and a read-only flag, beside a CLI with per-profile read-only gating and six agent skills, over an API with scoped one-year keys and a mandatory IP list. There is no sandbox, no status page, no documented 429 behaviour, and the fees and terms couldn't be read.
Kraken API
Kraken pairs a documented REST, WebSocket and FIX API with the open-source kraken-cli, whose kraken-mcp server gates 33 dangerous tools behind approval and signs in by OAuth with a no-withdrawal key. Spot has no self-service sandbox, no OpenAPI file was found, and a 59-minute connectivity outage hit every interface on 30 October 2026.
Before you call either
Bithumb Open API
- Ask for a key with asset and order inquiry plus order placement only, never withdrawals, with your IP registered; keys expire after one year and a wrong IP answers 401 NotAllowIP
- Start the server with
--modules market,account,trade --read-onlyfor analysis and drop--read-onlyonly when the person asks to trade; deposit and withdraw modules stay off - Prefer the
bithumbCLI for writes, as the skills do, and checkbithumb config show --jsonfor a read-only profile before any order - Keep the ticker's markets parameter at 200 or fewer, batch orders at 30 and cancels at 30 per request, and stay under 140 private calls a second per category
- Retry 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error after a pause; there is no sandbox, so start with the smallest order the market allows
Kraken API
- Start kraken-mcp with -s market,paper,feedback or the default services; add trade only with a least-privilege key, and never pass --allow-dangerous on an agent that reads untrusted input
- Ask the person to run kraken auth login in their own terminal; it needs a browser and saves a no-withdrawal key that expires in 90 days at most
- Send a fresh --cl-ord-id on each order and run it with --validate first; after a network error look the order up before sending it again
- Keep the nonce strictly increasing per key and stay under the tier's counter, since EAPI:Rate limit exceeded has no Retry-After header
- Test strategies in a paper workspace, which fills at live prices with no account, before a live workspace
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Bithumb Open API or Kraken API?
Kraken API scores 71 (BB) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in every scored category.
Do Bithumb Open API and Kraken API need an API key?
Bithumb Open API needs an API key. Kraken API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call Bithumb Open API and Kraken API without installing anything?
Bithumb Open API runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Kraken API runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/bithumb-vs-kraken.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/bithumb.json·/api/v1/tools/kraken.json - From a terminal
anchor compare bithumb kraken(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "bithumb", "b": "kraken"}at/mcp, no key