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NDAX is a Calgary exchange, running since 2018, that charges a flat 0.20% on every buy and sell whatever the size. Our verdict: the cheapest published cost of a bank-funded bitcoin purchase on this site, with a free way to move the coins to your own wallet. The price is the product around it: a full trading platform with an order book, 65 other coins and a staking menu, where the one-click screen a beginner wants is a section you have to go and find.
Facts on this page were checked against NDAX’s own fees, security, about, Simple Trading and affiliate pages, its user agreement and its Lightning post on September 22, 2026.
| Founded | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Based in | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Coins | Bitcoin, ether and more than 65 other crypto assets |
| Fees | A flat 0.20% commission on every buy and sell at any size, with no volume tiers and no maker or taker split, charged on top of the order book price and shown before you confirm; Interac e-Transfer, wire and crypto deposits are free |
| Custody | Custodial; send bitcoin to your own wallet on the bitcoin network free on the Flex lane (up to 12 hours), 0.00007 BTC on Standard (up to 4 hours) or 0.00014 BTC on Express, or over Lightning at 0.1% |
| Best for | Canadians who want the lowest published buy cost on the chart and do not mind a trading screen |
Compare NDAX side by side with other exchanges
What it is
Ndax Canada Inc. was founded in 2018 and gives its address as 1700-411 1 St SE, Calgary, Alberta. It is a Canadian dollar exchange with “support for over 65+ cryptocurrencies,” staking, an API, and two trading screens.
Two screens, one price. The advanced screen is a real order book with charts and order types. The simple one, Simple Trading, offers only “Market Orders,” the ordinary tap-to-buy most people want. The 0.20% is the same on both, so you never have to learn the order book to get the cheap price. The nuisance is finding it: NDAX’s instruction is to “log in to your account and navigate to the simple trade section.” It is not what the app opens on, which is why it takes a middling mark for ease on our chart.
Fees
In NDAX’s own words: “Ndax charges a flat 0.20% trading fee on every buy and sell order, the same rate at any trade size, with no volume tiers and no maker/taker split. The 0.20% fee is shown before you confirm an order.” There is no hidden spread on top, because you buy at the order book price: “you trade at the displayed order-book price, with the 0.20% commission charged on top and shown before you place the order.”
You fund by Interac e-Transfer, the standard Canadian way to send money from a bank account using an email address or phone number. NDAX says “Interac e-Transfer, bank wire, and crypto deposits are all free,” so 0.20% is the whole cost of a bank-funded buy.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Buying or selling | A flat 0.20%, any size, shown before you confirm |
| Deposits by e-Transfer, wire or crypto | Free |
| Bitcoin out, Flex lane | 0 BTC, up to 12 hours |
| Bitcoin out, Standard lane | 0.00007 BTC, up to 4 hours |
| Bitcoin out, Express lane | 0.00014 BTC, instant |
| Bitcoin out over Lightning | 0.1%, up to 0.1 BTC a time |
| Cash back to your bank | $1.50 by e-Transfer, $4.99 by direct bank deposit |
A $1,000 purchase costs $2, against about $11.50 at Newton and up to $20 at Shakepay. On a large buy that gap is real money. The way out is free too: “when you withdraw Bitcoin over the Bitcoin network, you can choose from three speeds, and the Flex option is completely free,” taking “up to about 12 hours,” and you can pay to “speed it up” mid-transaction. Cash back to your bank is the one place NDAX charges, and the amounts are small.
Lightning arrived on May 12, 2026. NDAX’s announcement gives a “standard Lightning withdrawal fee” of 0.1%, a deposit fee of 0.2%, and a withdrawal maximum of 0.1 BTC. The fee schedule still lists only the three on-chain lanes, so that post is the only place those figures appear; check them in the app before relying on them.
Buying bitcoin step by step
- Sign up and verify your identity, then turn on two-factor login. The know-your-client and account appropriateness questionnaire is a condition of NDAX’s registration, not a marketing survey.
- Deposit Canadian dollars by Interac e-Transfer, free. The user agreement requires a Canadian bank account.
- Find the simple trade section rather than the advanced screen. This is the step people miss, and the price is the same on both.
- Buy bitcoin. The 0.20% commission is shown before you place the order, so check the total first.
- Withdraw to a wallet you control on the Flex lane, free, within about twelve hours. Read Wallets and Self-Custody first, and send a small amount before a large one.
Where you can use it
Canada only. The user agreement is flat about it: “the Platform and the Products are available in all Canadian provinces and territories.” Quebec gets a specific and favourable mention. If you live “in a province other than British Columbia, Manitoba or Quebec,” or in any territory, you “may be subject to investment limits in respect of the trading of certain Virtual Assets.” Quebec residents are among those not capped.
The affiliate programme is Canadian too: NDAX says “the Ndax Affiliate Program is currently available to verified Canadian residents only.” It pays $15, $20 or $30 a qualifying referral, and gives the person you refer $10 once they verify and deposit $100.
Security and trust
NDAX is custodial. Its security page says “client digital assets are maintained separately from Ndax’s own assets,” held “with an acceptable custodian” and “kept separate from Ndax, its affiliates, and the custodians’ other clients,” with “at least 80% of client crypto assets held in segregated omnibus accounts” and custodians “regulated as trust companies across Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions.” It claims the “first Canadian crypto exchange to achieve SOC 2 Type II certification.” Eight years in, we found no reported loss of customer funds.
Its user agreement points at “the exemptive relief decision Re Ndax Canada Inc. dated December 19, 2024, granted by the Alberta Securities Commission and the other members of the Canadian Securities Administrators,” plus “the terms and conditions imposed by CIRO on Ndax’s membership with CIRO.” That is restricted-dealer registration with CIRO oversight, and NDAX is on the CSA’s own list of platforms authorised to do business with Canadians.
Two limits to hold on to. NDAX is a CIPF member firm, and in its own words CIPF “provides protection for fiat currency held in user accounts. However, CIPF coverage does not extend to any crypto assets held in user accounts.” Cash, not coins. And there is no proof of reserves you can check: NDAX offers instead that “on a monthly basis, Ndax confirms that client assets held with custodians and within Ndax-controlled wallets reconcile with Ndax’s books and records,” an internal check a customer cannot verify. Use the free Flex withdrawal.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A flat 0.20% on every trade at any size, the lowest published cost of a bank-funded buy on this site.
- A free way out: the Flex withdrawal lane costs 0 BTC, and Lightning withdrawals have been live since May 2026.
- Registered by the Alberta Securities Commission and the other CSA members on December 19, 2024, under CIRO oversight.
Cons
- You buy at the order book price on a full trading platform, and the one-click Simple Trading screen is a section you have to go and find, so there is more to ignore on a first visit.
- No proof of reserves you can check yourself; the security page offers third-party custodians, insurance and monthly reconciliation instead.
- Getting Canadian dollars back out costs $1.50 by Interac e-Transfer or $4.99 by direct bank deposit, and the fee schedule still does not list the Lightning fee the launch post gives.
Taxes
Buying bitcoin is not a taxable event in Canada. Selling it, spending it or swapping it for another coin is. The Canada Revenue Agency’s crypto-asset guidance, last updated December 2, 2025, says a disposition “may occur” when you “trade or exchange it for government-issued currency or another type of crypto-asset,” “use it to buy goods or services,” or give it away, and that if you disposed of it on account of capital “you must include half of your capital gains (known as taxable capital gains) in your income for the year.” Referral bonuses can carry their own tax consequences, so record those too. Our own Bitcoin and Taxes page covers the United States only, so start from the CRA’s own crypto-asset pages. This is education, not tax advice.
Who it’s for
NDAX suits a Canadian buying a meaningful amount, where 0.20% against 1.15% or 2.0% is the difference that matters, and who is not put off by a screen with charts on it. It also suits anyone who wants a low fee and a free withdrawal in one account, an unusual combination.
It does not suit a nervous first purchase: Shakepay opens on one buy screen and Newton prints its fee, and either is gentler. Nor a small weekly habit, where Shakepay’s 0% recurring buys beat 0.20%. And if you want your bitcoin never to sit with a company, that is Bull Bitcoin.
The button below goes to NDAX’s ordinary home page and carries no referral code: its affiliate programme is open only to residents of Canada, so we cannot join it. This is education, not financial or tax advice.
Next
- Newton review: the fee printed as a number.
- Shakepay review: the simplest app here.
- Bull Bitcoin review: bitcoin only, nobody holds it for you.
- Compare the four side by side.
- Answer three questions instead.