Newton Review 2026: Free to Fund, Expensive to Trade
Newton is now a full dealer member of CIRO — the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, the same body that oversees stockbrokers — and a member of CIPF — the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, which repays your cash balance if the firm itself fails — and moving money in and out is genuinely free in both directions. It also charges 1.00% to 1.60% per trade — a number most reviews, and until recently this site, had badly wrong.
By the CryptoNorth Team
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What Newton Is
Newton launched in Toronto in 2018 and built its reputation on a simple promise: no commission. You paid a spread baked into the quoted price, nothing else, and for years that made it the default recommendation for Canadians who did not want to think about fee schedules[4].
The platform today is a different proposition. It is a registered investment dealer with a tiered fee table, and the pricing that made it famous is no longer what it charges.
Regulation and Security
This is where Newton has genuinely improved, and it deserves the credit:
Newton reached this position the slow way. In March 2024 the OSC granted it time-limited exemptive relief to keep operating, on condition that it apply for full investment dealer registration and accept a long list of restrictions in the meantime — including annual purchase limits for most clients and a requirement to keep the majority of client crypto with a qualified custodian[5]. It has since completed that transition.
CIPF membership is real and worth having, but read Newton's own wording: “Crypto assets are not protected by CIPF, the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation, or any other investor protection insurance scheme”[2]. Coverage applies to cash held in your account if the dealer fails. Your Bitcoin is not insured by anybody, on Newton or anywhere else.
The Fees, Tier by Tier
Newton's current fee page prices trades in three tiers, by asset[1]:
Newton also runs a Signature programme where eligible high-volume clients can reach fees as low as 0.5%[1]. That is a meaningful discount, but it is a qualification, not a rate you can assume.
Newton's commission-free era left a long tail of reviews still describing it as free to trade, and comparison tables quoting fractions of a percent. This site listed Newton at 0.25–0.60% until we checked the source in August 2026 and found the real figure was roughly three times that. We have corrected it, and lowered our rating accordingly. If you are comparing platforms anywhere, open the fee page yourself.
Where Newton Still Wins: Moving Money
Credit where it is due. Newton is one of the few Canadian platforms where funding is free in both directions[4]:
- Interac e-Transfer deposits
- Interac e-Transfer withdrawals
- Wire transfer deposits
- Crypto deposits
- Every trade: 1.00–1.60%
- Crypto withdrawals: network fee above $5/day
Newton covers the first $5 of crypto withdrawal network fees each day and you pay the remainder[4]. On Solana or XRP that usually covers it entirely; on Ethereum mainnet during congestion it will not. Compare this with NDAX, which charges $1.50 to withdraw by Interac but only 0.20% to trade — the two platforms are almost mirror images of each other.
Pros and Cons
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Newton built its reputation on commission-free trading, and a great many reviews still describe it that way, but its current fee page lists tiered trading fees of 1.00-1.15% on BTC, ETH and USDC, 1.25-1.45% on LTC, SOL and XLM, and 1.50-1.60% on everything else. Eligible high-volume clients can qualify for rates as low as 0.5% through the Signature programme.
Yes. Newton is a dealer member of CIRO and a member of CIPF, is FINTRAC registered, and operates in all provinces and territories. It holds 80% of client crypto in Coinbase cold storage with the remainder in an insured Fireblocks hot wallet, and has had no known breach since launching in 2018.
No, and Newton says so plainly in its own disclosure: crypto assets are not protected by CIPF, CDIC, or any other investor protection scheme. CIPF coverage applies to cash held in your account in the event the dealer becomes insolvent. No Canadian platform insures the crypto itself against loss in value, and self-custody in a hardware wallet is the only way to remove platform risk entirely.
They are close to opposites. Newton is free to fund and withdraw but charges 1.00-1.60% per trade. NDAX charges $1.50 to withdraw by Interac but only 0.20% per trade. If you buy rarely and withdraw often, Newton may cost less overall. If you trade with any regularity, NDAX is cheaper by a wide margin, and the gap grows with every transaction.
Yes. Newton currently offers staking. Staking rewards are taxable income in Canada at their CAD value when received.
This review is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Fees, coin listings and regulatory status change — confirm current details with Newton and the CSA authorized platform list before depositing. Links to Newton on this page are affiliate links: we earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. As the fee section above should make clear, it does not affect our rating or what we have written.
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