Inside Kraken's 1.5 Billion Acquisition of NinjaTrader

During the early morning hours of March 20th, 2025, Business Wire broke the story that popular U.S. based crypto exchange, Kraken, acquired Futures Commission Merchant, NinjaTrader. 

The $1.5 billion USD acquisition marks the largest convergence in history between the cryptocurrency world and traditional finance.

As with any ground-breaking deal, there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye — especially when we look at the parallels to FTX acquiring BlockFi.

Let's dive in.

Why Did Kraken Buy NinjaTrader?

In Kraken’s own words:

“This acquisition strengthens our position as a 24/7, always-on technology platform built for professional traders, making us a leader in U.S. futures for both traditional and crypto markets.”

This move positions Kraken as a serious player in the U.S. futures market, catering to both traditional and crypto trading sectors. It also propels Kraken's ambitions to become a multi-asset-class trading platform, with future plans including equities trading and payments.

This partnership not only enhances Kraken’s offerings in crypto futures and derivatives in the US, but also facilitates NinjaTrader's expansion into global markets including the UK, Europe, and Australia thanks to Kraken’s existing regulatory licenses.

The acquisition enables seamless multi-asset trading for clients of both companies, providing access to professional-grade analytics, execution engines, and liquidity in both futures and cryptocurrencies.

But just how strong is this this acquisition?

Under the Hood of NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader, a leader in retail futures trading since 2003, brings to Kraken an established platform with nearly two million users and a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant license. 

But how secure is it?

NinjaTrader is under regulatory requirement to provide Consumer Funds Segregation, also known as the separation of customer funds and operational funds.

This segregation helps to ensure the existence of collateral to back the exchange's creditors (customers).  

The information below is based on the March 19th disclosure of Consumer Funds Segregation from NinjaTrader:

• Amount Required to be Set Aside: $263,810,475 is required to be segregated for customer protection.
• Actual Funds Held:
  • Cash in Banks: $94,435,647
  • Securities in Banks: $196,656,540
  • Cash with Other Futures Commission Merchants: $2,018,881
  • Securities with Other Futures Commission Merchants: $19,648,200
  • Total Held: $312,759,268
• Excess Funds: The amount held exceeds the requirement by $48,948,793.

The combination of excess funds and the diversification of those funds indicates that NinjaTrader likely has enough capital to cover customer deposits during a downturn. 

Under the Hood of Kraken

Similar to NinjaTrader, Kraken has a transparent and solvent proof of reserves completed on September 30th, 2024.

For example, the team has proven through a ‘Merkle Tree’ that they hold 203,769 BTC compared to 183,938 BTC owed to customers. This represents a collateral ratio of 110.78%.

Kraken has also proven that they hold 101% collateral ratio for Ethereum assets, 102% for Solana assets, 164% for USDC, 148% for USDT, and 102% for XRP.

Compare this to other centralized exchanges and banks throughout history. Most have dangerously held fractional reserves, which inevitably led to insolvency and bankruptcy.  

Based upon the above information, this merger seems like a match made in heaven for blending crypto and traditional finance in the United States. 

It means that nearly 2 million users from traditional finance will now have access to cryptocurrency. 

Likewise, cryptocurrency traders will have access to forex exchange and futures markets.

Although NinjaTrader primarily services the United States, their small but growing global market capture could open more channels for digital commerce in the near future.