Kraken Replaces 176 Trading Pairs: Open Orders Must Be Reset

Kraken is replacing 176 native trading pairs with synthetic pairs, and existing orders will not move across. For holders who leave buy or sell orders waiting on the exchange, the practical issue is twofold: check the cancellation deadline, then understand the replacement order’s fee and fill rules.

Kraken published its status notice on October 27 at 06:19 UTC, checked October 28. The notice sets November 6 at 14:00 UTC as the point when affected pairs become cancel-only: users can cancel orders but cannot submit new ones. That is 22:00 in Hong Kong and Singapore, or 23:00 in Japan.

The coins stay; the orders do not

The migration support notice, updated October 26, says the underlying assets remain listed and balances are unaffected. Margin pairs are excluded. This is a change to selected trading routes, not an instruction to withdraw every coin from Kraken.

Kraken says remaining orders will be canceled and native pairs removed between November 6 and November 9. Replacement synthetic pairs are scheduled for the end of November 9. Its support page lists every affected pair; check the exact pair, including the currency used to buy or sell, rather than just the coin name.

There is a scheduling inconsistency worth flagging: the status page’s header shows November 10, while its detailed timeline and the support notice both give the November 6 cancellation cutoff and November 9 replacement schedule. Do not treat that header as extra time to manage orders. Recheck Kraken’s notices before the cutoff.

A limit price does not mean a maker fee

Kraken’s synthetic-pairs explainer, updated October 8, describes a route through two underlying markets sharing a currency. An order book is the collection of available buy and sell orders; a synthetic route combines liquidity from two such books instead of using one direct market.

The distinction matters for costs. Synthetic market and limit orders both pay one taker fee, the fee for taking available liquidity. Synthetic limits do not rest in an order book as liquidity supplied by a maker. They execute only when the underlying markets can fill the entire order at the limit price or better; partial fills are unsupported.

The spread—the gap between buying and selling prices—combines the two underlying books. Kraken says this can beat a thin direct market, but a deep native book can offer better pricing. That is a possible benefit, not evidence that every affected holder will get a cheaper trade. Compare the final quote and fee, not the pair label alone.

Holder impact: review the replacement, not just the deadline

For someone who placed an order weeks ago, cancellation means the planned trade may no longer be waiting when the market reaches their chosen price. A replacement also deserves a fresh cost check: the old assumption about earning maker pricing may no longer apply.

Keep a record of the pair, amount and intended limit before reviewing the affected orders. After the replacement opens, confirm its available order controls and total cost before deciding whether to place a new order. Avoid treating the migration as a reason to execute an unwanted market trade.

Holders without open orders on affected pairs are told by Kraken that no action is needed. There is no announced change to staking returns in these notices, and this article makes no claim about the migration’s effect on coin prices.

Illustration: generated editorial still life with the authentic Kraken logo from its official blog, composited for identification. It is not an exchange interface or evidence of trading activity.