Kraken trading journal: trades, ledgers and the derivatives log
For Kraken spot, open Profile › Documents › Create Export, choose Trades, set the dates, pick CSV and generate. For derivatives, use the Export page on Kraken Pro with the product set to Derivatives to get the account log. Before importing the trades file into the journal, rename pair to Symbol and vol to Quantity, and remember the fee column is always in the quote currency.
Last checked: 8 October 2026. Exchange menus, fees and rules change, so confirm on the exchange’s own site before you rely on them.
Kraken’s exports are among the best documented in crypto: every column of the trades file is explained on its support site. That is lucky, because the trades file has one quirk that quietly breaks most spreadsheets, and the derivatives log carries more detail than most traders ever look at.
Spot: trades or ledgers?
Kraken offers two exports from Documents, and they answer different questions.
| Export | One row per | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Trades | Fill | Prices, sizes and the trade side. This is what the journal imports. |
| Ledgers | Balance change | Which currency a fee actually came out of, deposits, withdrawals, staking. |
- Click the profile icon and open Documents, then Create Export.
- Choose Trades, set a start and end date, optionally filter by pair, and choose CSV.
- Generate. It can take anywhere from minutes to a week, and there is no email: check the Documents page for the finished file.
Kraken does not export order history as such. Each row in the trades file carries an ordertxid, the order it belonged to, so several fills of one order can be grouped by that ID.
The fee-currency trap
The trades file has these columns: txid, ordertxid, pair, time, type, ordertype, price, cost, fee, vol, margin, misc, ledgers. The fee is always shown in the quote currency, even when Kraken actually took it from the base currency. There is no fee-currency column.
You buy 2.0 ETH on ETH/USD at 2,500, cost $5,000. The trades file shows a fee of $13.00.
If the fee was charged in USD, you hold the full 2.0 ETH. If Kraken took it in ETH, your ledger shows roughly 13 ÷ 2,500 = 0.0052 ETH deducted, and you actually hold 1.9948 ETH.
Sell "2.0 ETH" later in your spreadsheet and the numbers no longer reconcile. The ledgers export settles it: it shows which balance the fee left. In the journal, the fee amount in dollars is what matters for P&L, so $13.00 goes in the fee field either way, but check the ledger before you assume your position size.
Get the trades file ready for import
The journal reads a fill export when it finds a symbol, a side, a quantity and a price. Kraken’s file has all four, but one name is not recognised.
| Kraken column | Rename to | Why |
|---|---|---|
pair | Symbol | Optional, pair is already understood, but Symbol is clearer |
type | leave as is | Holds buy or sell, read as the side |
vol | Quantity | Required: the mapper does not recognise vol |
price, fee, time | leave as is | Recognised directly |
cost, margin, misc, ledgers | delete | Not needed, and cost can be mistaken for a price |
After import, buys and sells on each pair are paired first in, first out into trades. Whatever has no matching sell is shown as an open position.
Derivatives: the account log
On Kraken Pro, open the Export page, set the product to Derivatives, choose the dates and submit. The account log CSV includes Date, Type, Symbol, Change, New Balance, Avg. Entry Price, Trade Price, Mark Price, Funding Rate, Realised P&L, Fee, Realised funding, Collateral and a Liquidation fee column, among others.
That is unusually complete. Realised P&L, fee and realised funding sit side by side, so the net result of each closed trade is Realised P&L − Fee + Realised funding (funding is negative when you paid it). Kraken’s derivatives base fee is 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker.
A BTC perpetual long closes with Realised P&L +310.00, Fee 4.60 and Realised funding −12.40 across the rows for that position. Your stop risked 120.
Net: 310.00 − 4.60 − 12.40 = 293.00, which is 2.44R rather than the 2.58R the P&L column alone suggests.
For the journal, log derivatives trades with their entry, exit, stop and size, put the fee in commission and the realised funding in the swap field. If a row ever shows a liquidation fee, read liquidation versus stop loss before your next trade.
Kraken journal questions
How do I export my Kraken trade history?
Go to Documents, Create Export, choose Trades, set the dates and pick CSV. The file appears on the Documents page when it is ready, which can take from minutes to a week.
Why does my Kraken position size not match my trades file?
The fee column is always shown in the quote currency, even when Kraken took the fee from the base currency. Check the ledgers export to see which balance the fee came out of.
Where is funding in a Kraken futures export?
In the derivatives account log from Kraken Pro, in the Funding Rate and Realised funding columns, next to Realised P&L and Fee.
Sources
Track it in a journal that does the maths
Log the trade once. R, fees and the weighted average entry are worked out for you.
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