Robinhood Vs Newton: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do Robinhood And Newton Compare, Fact By Fact?

Every row below comes from each company’s own pages and the Canadian registries, checked October 2026. Where a row has no fair winner, it says so.

What Are The Key Differences Between Robinhood And Newton?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out Robinhood And Newton In Canada?

Neither accepts: credit card, debit card, paypal.

Fees, minimums and maximums are shown only inside the app. Bank limits apply. Account verification is required before any deposit. Crypto withdrawals to an external address need the address saved in your address book first.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Robinhood And Newton?

Robinhood: 0.50% per order through Oct 31, 2026, 0.95% from Nov 1, 2026 (CCML fee schedule effective 2026-10-01); Robinhood says it keeps no spread. Slippage within 1% on buys and 5% on sells passes to the client. Newton: Standard Silver-tier spread fee shown at trade time: 1.00% to 1.15% on BTC, ETH and USDC, up to 1.60% on other assets, checked 2026-10-03 on Newton's fee article. Signature status lowers it, to 0.05% at CAD 5M of trailing 365-day volume. Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do Robinhood And Newton Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Robinhood Only

• Staking (announced): ETH and SOL staking from about CAD 1, listed as coming soon; CCML's schedule shows a staking fee of up to 30% of rewards on the former Coinsquare platform.
• OTC desk: USD deposits and large trades go through the OTC desk at launch, with a quoted spread of 0.5% to 1.85%.
• Coinsquare Trade: Request-for-quote product on the Coinsquare platform with a disclosed spread of 0.5% to 1.85%.

Newton Only

• Signature Program: Fee tiers assigned automatically by trailing 365-day volume: Gold CAD 100K (BTC, ETH, USDC at 1.00%), Platinum CAD 1M (0.85% and 1.00%), Diamond CAD 2M (0.50%), Onyx CAD 5M (0.05%).
• Staking: Up to 4.5% APY shown for ETH, SOL and ADA (estimates, not guaranteed). Newton keeps 30% of ETH rewards plus execution income, 27% of SOL rewards plus MEV rewards, and 7.5% of ADA rewards. Staked assets are locked.
• Recurring buys: Set an amount, a coin and a frequency for automatic purchases.
• Referral program: A friend gets a CAD 20 bonus after signing up and trading CAD 100 within 90 days; the referrer earns up to CAD 100 depending on activity.

What Happens To Your Money If Robinhood Or Newton Fails?

Robinhood: Robinhood Canada runs on Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd., a CIRO investment dealer, so it is under dealer rules and CIRO supervision. CIPF covers CAD balances within limits but never crypto. Customer crypto stays in CCML's custody arrangement with crime insurance of an unpublished amount, and no proof of reserves was found. If the firm failed or was hacked, uninsured crypto would be an unsecured claim. The platform is in a migration, so features such as limit orders and swaps are still missing.

Newton: As a CIRO investment dealer member since March 2026, cash left in a Newton account is covered by CIPF, but Newton states crypto is not protected by CIPF, CDIC or any investor protection scheme. Over 80% of assets are kept offline and Newton says it carries crypto insurance, but it gives no amount and the custodian is not named on the current page, and no proof of reserves is published. An exchange hack or insolvency would leave you relying on that insurance and on the dealer's regulatory capital rules for the portion you cannot withdraw in time.

How Are Robinhood And Newton Treated For Tax In Canada?

Robinhood: Buying with CAD is not a disposition. Selling for CAD is, and so is any later swap or spend. Robinhood gives statements and annual tax documents for past Bitbuy and Coinsquare activity; CSV and CRA-ready exports were not verified.

Newton: Selling, swapping one coin for another and staking rewards are dispositions or income; buying and withdrawing to your own wallet are not. Newton exports your history as a Koinly-formatted CSV and links directly to Koinly; there is no CRA-ready report from Newton.

Selling, swapping or spending crypto is a disposition for the CRA on any platform. This is not tax advice: see my guide to crypto taxes in Canada.

Which Should You Choose, Robinhood Or Newton?

Choose Robinhood If

• You want one flat percentage fee and no Robinhood spread (0.50% to Oct 31, 2026, then 0.95%)
• You are a former Bitbuy or Coinsquare customer moving to the new app
• You are fine with market orders only for now

Choose Newton If

• You want a Canadian-only CIRO dealer with free Interac and EFT funding and a simple app.
• You trade small amounts of the majors and prefer one visible price over order book mechanics.
• You trade over CAD 1M a year and can reach Signature tiers that cut the fee below 1%.

Robinhood Crypto Canada charges a visible fee. Newton charges none, and takes its cut as a spread instead. That one difference drives most of this comparison. Newton is sixth in my ranking at 7.9 out of 10. Robinhood is not in my top 10, I have not tested it, and what I say about it comes from its own fee, transfer and limits pages.

Searching because of Bitbuy? Bitbuy accounts are moving to Robinhood, and the old app goes read-only after you switch. My Robinhood Crypto Canada review walks through it, and the older Bitbuy vs Newton page has the history.

How Do Robinhood And Newton Compare On Fees?

Robinhood, per its official CCML fee schedule (effective October 1, 2026): 0.5% of the trade value on every order through October 31, 2026, and 0.95% from November 1, 2026, on riskless-principal orders with a 1% slippage limit on buys and 5% on sells. Newton: no trading fee, but a spread of 1.00% to 1.15% on BTC, ETH and USDC, 1.25% to 1.45% on LTC, SOL and XLM, and 1.50% to 1.60% on other assets. Newton's Signature program can lower this with trailing 365-day volume, down to 0.05% at the top.

A spread is not a line item, so Newton's figures are what the stated percentages work out to on CAD 500, not a receipt. Robinhood's fee page does not publish a spread, so check its quote too. Through October 31, Robinhood is clearly cheaper. From November 1 the gap nearly closes on the big coins: Robinhood's CAD 4.75 against Newton's CAD 5.00 to CAD 5.75 on BTC, ETH and USDC, so Robinhood is only CAD 0.25 to CAD 1.00 lower on the headline. On other assets Newton's CAD 7.50 to CAD 8.00 is still above Robinhood. Newton's Signature volume tiers can push its spread lower, which Robinhood has no equivalent for. Newton's pitch is that you never see a fee line.

Which Is Better For Funding And Withdrawing CAD?

Newton wins on range. Interac e-Transfer, wire and pre-authorized debit are all free, with e-Transfer up to CAD 10,000 per transaction and a CAD 70,000 weekly deposit cap, and wire up to CAD 1,000,000. Robinhood supports Interac e-Transfer and domestic wire with no deposit fee. Some Reddit users report Interac delays and slow support at Robinhood, which is anecdotal.

On crypto withdrawals, Newton has three lanes: free, standard (network fee) and fast (CAD 10 plus network fee), and covers up to CAD 5 of gas on your first daily withdrawal. Robinhood charges no fee of its own, but transfers need verification plus 2FA, can take up to 5 business days to enable, and are not offered for every coin.

Which Has More Coins?

Newton's help centre lists 59 CAD pairs and warns pairs can be disabled. Robinhood lists 50+, including BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, DOGE, ADA, AVAX, XLM, LINK, SHIB, LTC, PEPE, AAVE, BONK and WIF. It is close, so compare the specific coin you want.

Which Is Safer?

Both are CIRO dealers. Newton Crypto Ltd. was admitted to CIRO as an investment dealer on March 18, 2026, and its FINTRAC MSB registration runs to January 2029. Robinhood's accounts sit with Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd., also a CIRO Dealer Member, with the change of control approved on May 20, 2026. Newton says over 80% of assets are kept offline in cold storage; Robinhood says crypto is held in trust with approved custodians and is not lent out or used for leveraged positions.

Crypto is not covered by CIPF at either platform. Cash is covered at both within limits.

Which App Is Easier To Use?

Newton shows 4.62 on Apple Canada from about 24,000 ratings and 4.3 on Google Play. It has staking, with up to 4.5% APY shown (SOL up to 4.5%, ADA 2.2%, ETH 1.5%), estimates only. Robinhood lists staking as coming soon, and I have no verifiable rating for its Canadian app, so I will not guess.

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Each?

Who Should Choose Robinhood, And Who Should Choose Newton?

Choose Robinhood if your Bitbuy or Coinsquare account is moving and you want one readable fee on a few mainstream coins. Choose Newton if you want free CAD funding through several rails, staking, or volume discounts. Newton is #6 in my ranking; if neither fits, Coinbase is my first pick.

Visit Newton Read My Newton Review