NDAX Review 2026: The Flat 0.20% Exchange, Fees and All
NDAX has the lowest headline trading fee of any Canadian-native exchange and a CIRO investment dealer registration covering every province. It also takes a 20% cut of your staking rewards, which almost nobody mentions.
By the CryptoNorth Team
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What NDAX Is
NDAX — the National Digital Asset Exchange — launched in Calgary in 2018 and serves Canadians exclusively. No US market, no global expansion, no dual-entity structure. Everything is denominated in CAD and built around Canadian banking rails[2].
Its position is straightforward: the lowest flat trading fee among Canadian-native platforms, aimed at people who trade often enough that a percentage point matters, and at anyone buying in size where a 1.5% spread would be painful.
Regulation and Security
NDAX's regulatory position is genuinely strong, and stronger than most Canadians realise:
- CIRO Investment Dealer — CIRO is the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, the body that oversees stockbrokers. NDAX Canada Inc. appears in CIRO’s own list of the dealers it regulates.[2] It is also a CIPF member firm, which we checked against the Canadian Investor Protection Fund’s own directory rather than taking anyone’s word for it.[3] CIPF would repay a CAD cash balance if NDAX itself failed. It never covers crypto, which for most people here is the whole balance.
- CIRO staking conditions imposed 19 December 2024. CIRO publishes terms and conditions it attaches to dealers, and NDAX’s are a set of conditions on offering staking — validator due diligence, monitoring for slashing, and a bar on acting as a validator itself without written consent.[2] Every Canadian crypto platform that has become a CIRO dealer carries conditions like these. It is a sign of supervision, not of trouble — but it is not the same thing as unconditional membership, and read alongside the staking fee section below it tells you staking is the part regulators watch most closely.
- FINTRAC registered Money Services Business, plus Quebec AMF registration. NDAX also appears on the CSA’s list of platforms authorized to do business with Canadians.[4]
- SOC 2 Type II certified — an independent audit of its security controls.
- 95%+ in cold storage via Ledger Vault with multi-signature approval, insured to $5M cold and $3M hot[2]
- No breaches in eight years of operation
CIRO membership is the same tier Shakepay reached in January 2025, and it puts both above platforms holding only a CSA registration. The usual caveat still applies: crypto held anywhere is not CDIC insured, and private insurance covers the custodian's failure, not your own mistakes.
The Fees, Including the Ones Below the Headline
The flat 0.20% is real and applies at every trade size with no volume tiers — unusual, and good for smaller accounts that would sit in the worst tier elsewhere[1]. What matters is everything around it.
- Interac e-Transfer deposits
- Wire transfer deposits
- Crypto deposits
- Transfers between NDAX accounts
- Interac withdrawal: $1.50
- Bank (EFT) withdrawal: $4.99
- Crypto withdrawal: network fee
- Staking: 20% of rewards
Worth being precise, because comparison tables often are not: money goes in free and comes out at $1.50 by Interac, capped at $10,000 per transaction[1]. Trivial on a large withdrawal, less so if you move small amounts often.
The Staking Fee Nobody Advertises
NDAX offers staking on 13 assets with advertised returns of up to 13% APY. It also charges a 20% administration fee on the rewards you earn[1][2].
An advertised 13% APY is closer to 10.4% once the 20% cut is taken. A 5% asset nets about 4%. To be fair to NDAX, the fee applies only to rewards generated and never to your staked principal, and they disclose it on their fee page — but you will not find it in the marketing, and most comparison sites quote the pre-fee number.
This is not unusual — most custodial staking takes a cut. It is worth knowing the real number before choosing a platform on staking yield, and worth remembering that staking rewards are taxable income in Canada at their CAD value when received. See our tax guide.
Coins, and a Note on Counting Them
NDAX listed roughly 65 assets as of mid-2026, including BTC, ETH, SOL, ADA, and more recent additions like SUI, SEI, ONDO and TAO. USDT was delisted in 2025, leaving USDC as the main stablecoin[2].
Published counts for NDAX vary widely — we found sources quoting 30, 32 and 65 within the same year. Listings change as assets are added and delisted, so treat any figure, including ours, as a snapshot rather than a specification. If a specific coin is the reason you are signing up, confirm it is listed before depositing.
Pros and Cons
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. NDAX holds CIRO investment dealer and marketplace registration approved 19 Dec 2024 covering all provinces and territories, is FINTRAC registered, and was the first Canadian crypto platform to achieve SOC 2 Type II certification. It has operated since 2018 with no known breach. As always, crypto held on any exchange is not CDIC insured.
Deposits are — Interac e-Transfer, wire and crypto all cost nothing. Withdrawals are not: $1.50 by Interac (capped at $10,000 per transaction) and $4.99 by bank transfer. Comparison tables that simply say "free Interac" are describing only half the round trip.
Take the advertised APY and subtract 20%, because that is NDAX’s administration fee on rewards earned. An advertised 13% becomes roughly 10.4%. The fee never touches your staked principal, and it is disclosed on their fee page, but it is absent from the marketing. Staking rewards are also taxable income in Canada when received.
NDAX, and it is not close on cost. Bitbuy is easier to learn, but its default Express Trade screen costs roughly 2.5% all in — the flat 0.50% is the Pro screen, and the flat 0.50% you may have read about is Robinhood’s rate, arriving whenever Bitbuy accounts migrate. NDAX charges a flat 0.20% today. Bitbuy is also mid-migration into Robinhood, which is a reason not to open a new account there right now.
This review is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Fees, coin listings and regulatory status change — confirm current details with NDAX and the CSA authorized platform list before depositing. Links to NDAX on this page are affiliate links: we earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you, and it does not affect our rating or what we have written above.
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