Ndax review: a CIRO-registered Canadian exchange with a flat 0.20% fee, but CIPF covers fiat only, the current security page names no custodian, and there is no independent proof of reserves.

Ndax says client assets are segregated from its own, its affiliates’ and the custodians’ other clients, that staked assets are held apart from non-staked assets, and that it may not pledge or re-hypothecate client crypto except for client-directed staking. Its security page says a majority of client assets sit in cold storage and that at least 80% of client crypto is held with third-party custodians in segregated omnibus accounts; it gives no percentages beyond that and does not say where the remainder is held. The page names no custodian and gives no insurance amount: it cites a Crime and Financial Institution Bond covering certain losses on hot, warm and cold wallet assets, subject to policy limits. A CIRO member bulletin does reference a custody agreement with BitGo, and older Ndax pages cited US$5 million of cold-wallet and US$3 million per-instance hot-wallet cover; we could not tie those figures to the current page. Ndax says it reconciles client assets with its books monthly and runs penetration tests, where older pages said daily. Its blog cites SOC 2 Type II, which the current security page does not mention. We found no independent proof-of-reserves attestation and no reported hack, though absence of reports is not proof of strong controls.

Ndax Canada Inc. is a registered investment dealer in all provinces and territories of Canada, and its CIRO membership took effect on December 19, 2024 (CIRO Member Bulletin 24-0383). The CSA approved its registration as an investment dealer and operator of an alternative trading system on December 20, 2024, after it had operated under a pre-registration undertaking dated March 24, 2023. CIRO granted exemptive relief from certain Investment Dealer and Partially Consolidated Rules at the same time, and its registration carries terms and conditions set out in the regulators’ decision. The Canadian Lawyer reported that it is also registered with FINTRAC as a money services business. Ndax’s legal page lists CIPF membership, but CIPF protects fiat balances only: the page states that coverage does not extend to virtual assets, and crypto is not eligible for CDIC deposit insurance. A 2025 BC Supreme Court ruling (Xu v Ndax Canada, 2025 BCSC 2048) found Ndax met the standard of care in a customer scam case and was not liable.

Ndax charges a flat 0.20% on both makers and takers, with no volume tiers. Its own blog said that as of March 25, 2026 it charges a flat 0.20% trading fee, and Finder and Traders Union list the same figure. For comparison, Traders Union puts market averages at 0.15% for makers and 0.194% for takers. Ndax says the fee does not cover spread or slippage, which it does not control, and at least one review site describes fees as including spread. Deposits are free. CAD withdrawals conflict by source: Finder and Hellosafe list a $1.50 Interac e-Transfer and a $4.99 wire, while another version of the Finder table shows $4.99 for Interac. Crypto withdrawal fees are fixed per coin and vary by source, such as 0.000149 BTC at Traders Union and 0.000399 BTC at Gainium. Staking carries a 20% commission on rewards according to TradingFinder, a figure we could not confirm on Ndax’s own pages. We could not load Ndax’s live fee page.

Coverage counts conflict by source and date: 30 or more in a 2023 app-store description, 39 at Fortunly, over 55 at Hellosafe, and 66 at Finder and MoneySense. Ndax offers staking on select coins, an Auto Invest recurring-purchase feature (Finder) and an Ndax Wealth service for investors starting around $200,000 (Fortunly). There is no futures or margin trading, and CAD is the only fiat currency. The platform serves Canadian residents only. Hellosafe calls its fiat and trading-pair options limited and says liquidity for exceptionally large orders can be thin.

Ndax offers web and mobile apps with spot trading, staking and recurring purchases, and Hellosafe lists bilingual English and French support with local business hours. Third-party app ratings are dated and conflict: a 2023 App Store snapshot showed 4.0 from 5,830 ratings, an affiliate review site cited 4.7 from about 5,000 App Store reviews, and an older review site gave the app 1.6, so we do not rely on them. Trustpilot reviewers praise ease of use but also describe login problems, including one account of a 10-hour lockout in March 2025, and funds locked for days after a password reset. Hellosafe adds that some users report processing delays during peak periods.

Finder lists live chat from Monday to Friday 10:00 to midnight EST and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 22:00 EST, and phone from Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00 EST, so there is no 24/7 desk. A 2025 Trustpilot reviewer said support runs only on weekdays and another described frozen funds for days. Trustpilot figures differ by page and date: one snapshot shows TrustScore 4 from 276 reviews, an aggregator lists 3.8 from 278, and Hellosafe cited 3.4 from 216 in July 2025. Reviews range from praise for individual agents to complaints of slow responses, frozen withdrawals and a referral bonus dispute. Ndax replies to many reviews. We excluded review-aggregator pages (such as Reviews.io and SmartCustomer) whose listings were dominated by apparent fund-recovery promotions.

Beyond spot trading, Ndax offers staking, Auto Invest, an Ndax Wealth service for large investors and, per software directories, API access. Its blog explains CIRO, CSA, FINTRAC and SOC 2 requirements for users, and it publishes educational content. It says it had surpassed $1 billion in monthly trades by December 2024 (company-reported, press release). There is no card, DeFi integration, futures, lending or earn product beyond staking in the sources we reviewed.