# Kraken API vs Uniswap Trading API

> Kraken scores 71 (BB) to Uniswap Trading's 63.3 (B) for exchange spot trading. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-uniswap
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-uniswap.md (~5,150 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-03

Kraken API scores 71 (BB) on agent readiness against Uniswap Trading API's 63.3 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Uniswap Trading API leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community. Both do exchange spot trading.

- Kraken API: grade BB, 71/100, rank #159 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kraken.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kraken.json
- Uniswap Trading API: grade B, 63.3/100, rank #446 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/uniswap.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/uniswap.json
- Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/crypto-exchanges/index.md
- All 210 exchanges comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crypto-exchanges/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Kraken API (BB)

Good 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 42
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 72
- Security & auth, 80 against 63
- Transparency & trust, 65 against 55

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Runs on your own machine

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

### Uniswap Trading API (B)

Good for: An agent swapping or bridging tokens from its own wallet on 21 EVM chains, or managing liquidity positions, with routing done for it.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 80
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 81

Watch for: No official MCP server; the registry's Uniswap entries are third parties


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Kraken API +25

- 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.
- Uniswap Trading API (42): Read with the hosted lines on the Trading API. status.uniswap.org redirects to the swap app and the docs link no status page (0). No readable history (5). Rate limit documented as 6 requests a second per key (15). The errors page says to pause all requests from the key on 429, retry 500 and 503 with backoff and refresh quotes after 30 seconds; swaps are signed transactions, so idempotency rests on the chain nonce (12 of 15). No SLA (0). The API is generally available; Guidestar routing is a beta notice (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.

### Security & auth: Kraken API +17

- 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.
- Uniswap Trading API (63): A single `x-api-key` header, no scopes, no IP allow-list; revocation and rotation happen in a dashboard robots.txt disallows, so unchecked; nothing in a URL (18 of 30). The API never holds keys or funds, every value transfer needs the caller's signature on `permitData` and the transaction, and the swapper sets slippage (16 of 20). The API returns routes and token lists, not untrusted content (10). The dashboard presumably shows key usage; not read, and no per-call log is documented (5 of 15). security.txt on app.uniswap.org with a Cantina bounty and security@uniswap.org, protocol audits in the docs; no SOC 2 or disclosure timeline read (14 of 20). Total 63.

### Schema & documentation: Uniswap Trading API +10

- 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.
- Uniswap Trading API (90): OpenAPI 3.0 file (Token Trading 1.0.0) for the Trading and LP APIs, about 33 paths with `x-internal` markers on the margin and 4337 operations (25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page (10). Operation summaries are one line, but the guides say which routing types go to `/swap`, `/order` and `/plan`, when UniswapX quotes are returned and when a 404 means change the request (14 of 20). Enums for routing types, urgency and position statuses, required fields and bounded integers such as `limit` 1 to 20 (12 of 15). Examples on every guide page and error schemas for 400, 401, 404 and 429 with a stable `errorCode` enum and per-code retry advice (14 of 15). A /v1 path, a changelog with posted and effective dates and a 30-day minimum sunset policy (15). Total 90.

### Transparency & trust: Kraken API +10

- 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.
- Uniswap Trading API (55): The editorial half. The API is closed under API Terms of Use that answered 403; the SDKs and uniswap-ai are MIT and the protocol contracts are open source (15 of 30). No privacy policy read (app.uniswap.org draws by script) and nothing in the docs on retention of quotes or wallet addresses (0 of 30). A published sunset policy of at least 30 days, ideally 60, with dated notices such as the Universal Router 2.0 and 2.1.1 sunset of 21 October 2026 (20). No subprocessors or data locations (0 of 20). Total 35.

### Agent ergonomics: Kraken API +7

- 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.
- Uniswap Trading API (72): An API, read for response sizing. Quotes and calldata are compact and `/tokens` takes a limit; the quote can carry the swap calldata to save a call (20 of 25). `GET /orders` and `GET /swaps` poll status by id, `/swappable_tokens` and `/tokens` filter by chain and sort, with little pagination elsewhere (12 of 20). Stable `errorCode` values with a `detail` string and a `requestId`, and the docs say which codes to retry (18 of 20). No idempotency key; a swap is a signed transaction whose nonce prevents a double spend, and the docs warn about nonce collisions with pending transactions (12 of 20). Few required fields on `/quote`, defaults for slippage and urgency, but no official client library for the API and signing needs ethers.js, viem or web3.js (10 of 15). Total 72.

### Maintenance & community: Uniswap Trading API +7

- Kraken API (81): Read as a closed service with an open-source client. Changelog entry of 27 October 2026 and kraken-cli v0.5.1 on 29 October (30). Fourteen changelog entries since 19 August 2026 and CLI tags on 6 and 7 August and 28 and 29 October (20). A public changelog, api@kraken.com, a status page and a CLI repository merging pull requests at the end of October; issue replies not read (11 of 15). An official Rust SDK pushed in October 2026 and a Go module from January; the MCP server is not in the official registry (12 of 15). The CLI has release and secure SDLC workflows, deny.toml and a pinned toolchain; the SDK's CI not read (8 of 10). 30 + 20 + 11 + 12 + 8 = 81.
- Uniswap Trading API (88): Read as a closed hosted service. The newest changelog notice is dated 22 October 2026 (30). Notices of 20 August, 21 September and 22 October 2026, three in 90 days (20). A help form for developer support that says it won't debug integrators' code, and uniswap-ai with 6 open issues and a push on 26 October (14 of 25). Official TypeScript SDKs current (@uniswap/v4-sdk 2.4.4 with provenance) and the uniswap-ai skills, though no client for the API itself; no MCP registry entry (15). Trusted publishing with provenance on npm, CI and lint hooks on uniswap-ai (9 of 10). Total 88.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kraken API | Uniswap Trading API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 42 | Kraken API +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 90 | Uniswap Trading API +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 72 | Kraken API +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 63 | Kraken API +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 88 | Uniswap Trading API +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 55 | Kraken API +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **71 · BB** | **63.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kraken API | Uniswap Trading API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Payward, Inc. | Uniswap Labs |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted service under Kraken's Global Terms of Service (30 October 2026). kraken-cli, which carries the kraken-mcp server, is MIT | The Trading API is a proprietary hosted service under Uniswap Labs' API Terms of Use, which we couldn't read; the SDKs and the uniswap-ai skills are MIT. Swaps execute on the open-source Uniswap protocol contracts on chain |
| Tools exposed | 152 | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-22 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-30 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-21 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 795 stars | 236 stars, 154k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Uniswap Trading API.** The Trading API is free, documented by an OpenAPI file with stable error codes, holds no keys since the caller signs every swap, and posts sunset notices 30 days ahead. There is no official MCP server, status page or sandbox, the key is a plain header secret at 6 requests a second, and the API terms refused our reader.

## Before you call either

### Kraken API

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. Keep the nonce strictly increasing per key and stay under the tier's counter, since EAPI:Rate limit exceeded has no Retry-After header
5. Test strategies in a paper workspace, which fills at live prices with no account, before a live workspace

### Uniswap Trading API

1. Call `/check_approval` first, then `/quote`; if `permitData` is non-null sign it as EIP-712 and send `signature` and `permitData` together to `/swap` or `/order`, never one without the other
2. Route on the quote's `routing`: `CLASSIC`, `WRAP`, `UNWRAP` and `BRIDGE` go to `/swap`, `DUTCH_V2`, `DUTCH_V3` and `PRIORITY` to `/order`, `CHAINED` to `/plan`
3. Refresh any quote older than 30 seconds before broadcasting, and on 429 pause every request from the key before retrying
4. Retry unchanged only on `UpstreamTimeoutError`; `NoRouteFoundError` and `QuoteAmountTooLowError` need a different amount, token or `protocols` list
5. Send `X-Agent-Info` with `decision_origin: autonomous` and keep `x-api-key` server-side

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kraken API or Uniswap Trading API?

Kraken API scores 71 (BB) on agent readiness against Uniswap Trading API's 63.3 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Uniswap Trading API leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community.

### Do Kraken API and Uniswap Trading API need an API key?

Kraken API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Uniswap Trading API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Kraken API and Uniswap Trading API without installing anything?

Kraken API runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for Uniswap Trading API.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-uniswap.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-uniswap.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "kraken", "b": "uniswap"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare kraken uniswap`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kraken.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/uniswap.json

## Other comparisons with Kraken API or Uniswap Trading API

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- [Bitfinex API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Bitget vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitget-vs-kraken.md)
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- [Bybit vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bybit-vs-kraken.md)
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- [dYdX vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dydx-vs-uniswap.md)
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- [Gemini Exchange API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-exchange-vs-kraken.md)
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- [HTX trading API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/htx-vs-kraken.md)
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- [KuCoin vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kucoin-vs-uniswap.md)
- [MEXC API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mexc-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Binance API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-kraken.md)
- [Binance API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Coinbase Advanced Trade API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-advanced-trade-vs-kraken.md)
- [Coinbase Advanced Trade API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-advanced-trade-vs-uniswap.md)
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- [Deribit vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-uniswap.md)
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- [Kraken API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Kraken API vs MEXC API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kraken-vs-mexc.md)
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- [Uniswap Trading API vs Upbit Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/uniswap-vs-upbit.md)
- [Deribit vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deribit-vs-kraken.md)
- [dYdX vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dydx-vs-kraken.md)
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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp