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Newton vs. NDAX: What Works Better For Canadians in 2024

Oleg Galeev

Last updated October 8, 2024

We are comparing two popular cryptocurrency exchanges in Canada, Newton and NDAX. These platforms differ significantly in their fee structures, the number of supported cryptocurrencies, and various other user features and offerings.

Description

Newton prides itself on being Canada’s first no-fee cryptocurrency exchange. They claim their exchange is 2-3x lower than most other exchanges.

National Digital Asset Exchange Inc (NDAX) claims to have both the lowest fees and the most coins available in Canada (not 100% true). It has a beginner-friendly platform and a high-rated app.

Coins

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, USDC, USDT, Chainlink, Aave, Uniswap, Polygon, Compound, SushiSwap, Curve, Synthetix, Dai, Polkadot

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, XRP, EOS, Stellar Lumens, Dogecoin, Cardano, USDT, Chainlink, Polkadot, Uniswap, The Graph, Compound, Aave, and Polygon.

Fees

  • 0% CAD funding
  • 0% CAD withdrawal
  • 0% crypto deposit/withdrawals (up to $5 network fee waived)
  • No commissions or trading fees
  • 0.40% to 0.72% spread
  • Fixed 0.2% buy/sell fee
  • Free deposits
  • $25 fixed fee for wire/bank withdrawals

Pros

  • No fees at all
  • Wide selection of coins available
  • You can export a T5 statement
  • Sleek interface
  • Newton Pro for advanced traders in Beta stage
  • Free deposits
  • No deposit/withdrawal minimum or maximum
  • Fixed 0.2% buy/sell fee
  • Wide range of coins available
  • Fast Interac deposits 
  • Send, request, and gift crypto to another NDAX user for free, instantly
  • Address whitelisting

Cons

  • Very high spreads
  • No live chat support
  • No credit card deposits. Debit must be pre-approved.
  • Only CAD deposits accepted
  • No credit/debit cards accepted
  • $25 fixed fee for wire/bank withdrawals
  • Hidden fees

Account Limits

  • $10,000 max daily Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
  • $70,000 max weekly Interac e-Transfer deposit/withdrawal
  • $5,000 electronic funds transfer deposit
  • $50,000 electronic funds transfer withdrawal
  • $1M wire transfer deposit/withdrawal
  • $5M daily trading limit
  • Deposit $100 - $10,000 via Interac daily
  • $50 minimum e-Transfer withdrawal
  • $20,000 minimum for wire transfers

Methods to buy

  • Interac e-Transfer
  • Wire transfer
  • Connect bank account
  • Interac e-Transfer
  • Wire transfer
  • Bank draft

Security

  • Daily exchange backups
  • Third-party custody of assets, mostly offline
  • Direct bank intergration to reduce fraud

Assets stored in cold storage using the Ledger Vault (amount unknown)

Mobile and Desktop Trading

Both Newton and NDAX provide mobile and desktop platforms for trading. Newton's iOS app has a 4.6-star rating with over 17.8k reviews. Complaints include slow deposits and customer service response. NDAX's iOS app boasts a 4.7-star rating with 5.9K reviews. Both Newton and NDAX offer user-friendly and clean desktop platforms, with Newton’s interface being more suitable for beginners, while NDAX provides a more professional look.

Newton

Newton has a user-friendly interface and a modern, clean look. It’s simple and easy to use.

Newton’s overall design is clean and modern. They also usual casual and friendly language. It doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, which is refreshing. At first glance, Newton seems user-friendly and fairly simple.

Its iOS app has a rating of 4.4 stars with 5.6k reviews, and its Android app has a rating of 2.8 stars with 800 reviews.

Newton desktop interface

Newton desktop interface

Market order with Newton

Market order with Newton

Newton mobile app #1 (welcome screenshot)

Newton app interface

Newton mobile app #2 (cryptocurrencies available)

Newton app interface while trading

NDAX

NDAX has a packed website full of helpful resources. There is a page about each cryptocurrency they offer. These articles include the coin’s history, use cases, charting, how to buy, and more. 

NDAX has an iOS app with a 4.6-star rating with 550 reviews. Its Android app has a 4.0-star rating with 80 reviews. It has obviously done a good job with its app and people seem to like it.

NDAX Desktop interface

NDAX desktop interface

How to buy Polkadot on NDAX crypto exchange

NDAX trading screen

Ndax app screenshot

NDAX app interface

Ndax buying crypto app

NDAX app interface while trading

Security Compliance

Newton does daily backups to minimize risk and states on its website that customer data is stored in Canada. They also perform daily site backups, have offline third-party storage for digital assets, and they allow their customers to directly connect their bank account to reduce fraud.

NDAX keeps its digital assets in cold storage using Ledger Vault, although they do not state the percentage. Ledger is a big name in the cryptocurrency space, known for making secure hardware wallets. 

When signing up to NDAX, you are forced to enable two-factor authentication. Most crypto exchanges will leave this optional, but we think everybody should do it, so we like this mandatory policy.

Additionally, when you wish to change your details such as your email, address, phone number etc, NDAX requires you to submit a selfie with a handwritten note outlining the request. 

Both exchanges prioritize security. Newton complies with FINTRAC regulations, conducts daily site backups, and keeps digital assets in offline third-party storage. However, details about what percentage of assets are kept in cold storage aren't provided. NDAX uses Ledger Vault for cold storage (percentage undisclosed) and enforces mandatory 2FA, making its security protocols comprehensive and robust.

Regulatory Compliance

Newton is fully compliant with FINTRAC regulations in Canada

NDAX is registered as a Money Service Business with FINTRAC and AMF, NDAX is fully compliant with Canadian regulations. 

Both Newton and NDAX are compliant with Canadian federal regulations. They're registered as Money Service Businesses with FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada), indicating that they adhere to Canadian laws and regulations related to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.

Customer support

Newton has FAQs and a knowledge center on the website. Customers can message the support teams either online via their support pages or through email. Newton does not have a phone and live support.

NDAX provides a knowledge centre on its website. Articles here answer some of the most common questions. They also have a live chat function, which is handy when you need a quick answer. You can also email them for support. Confusingly, NDAX lists its phone number on its contact page, which is rare for a crypto exchange to do. We weren’t sure if this meant they had phone support, so we reached out via email to ask. They got back to us a very impressive 20 minutes later to let us know that they only have email support. So that’s that. Still, that’s the fastest response we’ve seen.

Newton offers a knowledge base for common queries and a ticketing system for support. It responded to a test query within four hours.

NDAX, on the other hand, offers a knowledge center, live chat, and email support, with an impressively quick response time of just 20 minutes.

Conclusion

While both exchanges are reliable and feature-rich, Newton takes the lead due to its no-fee trading policy, wide range of supported cryptocurrencies, and an overall user-friendly platform. Despite the lower rating of its Android app, Newton's commitment to continually add new coins and its soon-to-be-launched advanced trading platform, Newton Pro, make it an appealing choice for Canadian traders.

When comparing Newton to NDAX, one notable advantage is the Recurring Buys feature. This allows users to automate crypto purchases at regular intervals, making it easier to invest consistently over time. Additionally, Newton has partnered with Koinly, a leading crypto tax platform, simplifying tax reporting with seamless integration. These features are especially beneficial for users looking for a hands-off approach to crypto investing and tax management, giving Newton a distinct edge over many competitors that don’t offer these conveniences.

We recommend choosing Newton over NDAX for your cryptocurrency trading needs. By opting for Newton through our referral link, you support us in conducting comprehensive independent analyses of crypto trading options for Canadians.

If you find that neither Newton nor NDAX meets your requirements, we encourage you to explore our monthly-updated list of the best exchanges for Canadians to trade crypto. This list provides a range of alternative options that may better suit your specific needs and preferences.

 

Author

Oleg is a Canadian citizen & crypto expert who has been trading since 2016. He started out with Coinbase, Kraken and Peer-to-Peer exchanges. After some time, centralized exchanges started charging crazy fees to their users.

He decided to review different crypto exchanges that operate in Canada and start a Youtube channel in order to educate Canadians on what kinds of things are going inside each one while giving them unbiased advice. On top of that, Oleg also has experience with NFT, airdrops, and crypto staking and he is constantly checking on new crypto assets.

His writing has been featured in popular Canadian media sources such as Toronto Sun and Ottawa Citizen.