You report Bybit activity on your Canadian return the same way you report any other crypto activity: every sale, swap or spend is a disposition, gains are taxed at a 50% inclusion rate, and the record keeping is on you. Whether the exchange sends a slip changes nothing about that duty.
This guide covers the general steps for pulling your history out of Bybit and turning it into numbers the CRA accepts. Exchange screens and menu names change often, so where a step depends on the interface we say what to look for and send you to the Bybit help pages for the exact clicks. The tax rules come from CRA guidance, and the links are at the bottom.
How the CRA treats crypto held on an exchange
The CRA treats crypto-assets as a commodity, not as money. Selling one, swapping it for another, or using it to pay for something counts as a disposition. For most people holding as an investment, the result is a capital gain or loss. Half of a gain is taxable and half of a loss can be used against gains.
There is a catch. If your activity looks like a business, with frequent trades, borrowed money, a plan to profit from short price moves, then the CRA can treat the full amount as business income. There is no fixed number of trades that flips you over. The CRA looks at the whole picture, and if you are unsure it is worth asking an accountant before you file.
Where the exchange is located makes no difference to the rule. A Canadian resident is taxed on world income, so gains made on an offshore platform belong on the return. Many foreign exchanges don’t issue Canadian tax slips at all, which means the download you make yourself becomes your only evidence. The capital gains tax calculator can show what a gain does to your bill once you have the figures.
Getting the history out of Bybit
There are two routes, and most people end up using both. Exchanges usually let you download transaction history as files, often CSV, from an account or assets area. They also let you create an API key that a tax tool can use to pull the data for you. Names, locations and available date ranges change, so check the Bybit help pages before you start.
The file route gives you full control. You choose the range, you see the raw rows, and nothing is shared with a third party. The catch is that exports are often limited to a window of time per download, so a full year may take several files. A busy account can need a dozen.
The API route is faster. If you use it, create a key that can read data only, with no trading and no withdrawal permission. A key that can move money is a risk you don’t need for tax work. Delete the key once the import is finished. If a tax tool asks for more than read access to calculate your gains, that is a sign to stop and look elsewhere.
And whichever way you go, compare the result to the raw files afterwards. Automatic imports miss things, and they can double count a transfer that shows up on two sides.
Working out the price in Canadian dollars
Bybit shows values in USDT or other units, but the return is in Canadian dollars. Every row needs a CAD value at the time it happened. The CRA accepts a reasonable, consistent source of rates, such as Bank of Canada daily rates for currency conversion together with a price source for the crypto itself. Pick one method, write it down and apply it to every transaction.
Take a simple case. A trade sells 0.5 BTC for 30,000 USDT when 1 USDT is worth 1.36 CAD. The proceeds are 30,000 times 1.36, which is $40,800 CAD. If you had used a different rate for the same trade, the gain would move, so consistency matters more than the exact source.
Each swap is two events
When one coin is swapped for another, the CRA sees a sale of the first and a purchase of the second, both at fair market value on that date. Suppose 1 ETH has an adjusted cost base of $3,000 and you swap it for coins worth $4,500 CAD at the time. The proceeds are $4,500, the gain is $1,500, and the new coins start with a cost base of $4,500.
Fees change the arithmetic a little. A $9 trading fee paid in the coin you sold reduces your proceeds, so the gain becomes $1,491. A fee paid on a purchase is added to the cost of what you bought. Either way, the fee is part of the numbers rather than a separate line to forget.
Fees, funding and derivatives
Bybit is well known for derivatives, and this is where a simple capital gains approach can stop working. The CRA has published guidance for common crypto transactions but the tax treatment of futures, perpetual contracts and margin trading depends on your facts. Gains might be capital or income, and losses may be treated differently again.
What can be said safely is this. Funding payments, interest on borrowing and liquidation losses all leave a record, and each needs its own line in the file. If you have any of these, don’t guess at the treatment. Gather the full history, then have a tax professional look at the pattern. The cost of an hour of advice is small next to a reassessment.
For plain spot trading, the fees paid are already covered in the previous section. If you also use earn or staking products, rewards are generally income when received, valued in CAD on that day, and that value becomes the cost base of the reward. The CRA has a separate page on mining and staking that spells out where the lines fall.
Adjusted cost base by averaging
The CRA requires the average cost method for identical crypto-assets. You don’t pick which coins you sold, as you would with specific lots. Every time you buy more of the same coin, the average cost per unit changes.
Here’s a worked run. You buy 1 BTC for $60,000, then another for $80,000. The pool is 2 BTC with a total cost of $140,000, so the average is $70,000 each. You sell 0.5 BTC for $45,000. Cost of what you sold is 0.5 times $70,000, which is $35,000. The gain is $10,000, of which $5,000 is taxable. What remains is 1.5 BTC with a cost of $105,000, still $70,000 per coin.
The average must be kept for each type of coin separately, and it carries forward from year to year. This is why history from earlier years matters even if you only sold this year. A missing 2022 purchase changes the average on every sale after it.
The superficial loss rule
If you sell at a loss and then buy the same asset within 30 days before or after the sale, and still hold it at the end of that period, the loss is superficial. It is denied for now. The denied amount is added to the cost base of the replacement, so it isn’t gone forever.
Say 1,000 units cost $2,000 and you sell them for $1,200, a loss of $800. Two weeks later you buy 1,000 units back for $1,250 and keep them. The $800 is denied and the new cost base becomes $1,250 plus $800, or $2,050. You get the benefit later, when you finally sell without a repurchase.
If you rebuy only part, only part of the loss is denied. The share depends on the smaller of the units you bought back and the units you still hold, compared with the units you sold. The rule also reaches purchases by an affiliated person such as your spouse, and it treats identical coins as the same property. Frequent traders trip it more often than they expect, especially with automated buys.
Foreign property and the T1135
If the total cost of your specified foreign property goes over $100,000 CAD at any time during the year, you may have to file Form T1135. The threshold is based on cost, not on market value. Crypto held with a foreign exchange can fall under this, depending on the facts, and the CRA publishes guidance on how it applies.
Check the T1135 guide at the end of the year. If you hold exchange balances, foreign bank accounts and shares in a foreign brokerage, add up the cost of everything rather than each account on its own. Late filing carries penalties, so it is better to look than to assume.
A full-year example from start to finish
Numbers make the process easier to follow, so here is a small year of Bybit activity. February brings a purchase of 2 ETH for $6,000 CAD in total. Then 1 more ETH costs $3,600 in May. The August swap moves 1.5 ETH into a different coin worth $6,750 CAD at that moment, with a $10 fee. Whatever remains sells in November for $4,400.
Start with the pool. After May it holds 3 ETH with a cost of $9,600, or $3,200 per ETH. The August swap uses 1.5 ETH, so its cost is $4,800. Proceeds are $6,750 less the $10 fee, which is $6,740, and the gain is $1,940. The pool falls to 1.5 ETH with a cost of $4,800.
In November the last 1.5 ETH sell for $4,400. Cost is $4,800, so this is a loss of $400. Net for the year on ETH is a gain of $1,540. Half of that, $770, is added to income. Separately, the coin received in August starts with a cost of $6,750, and its own pool begins on that date.
What to do at filing time
Once the sheet balances, the return itself is short. Capital gains and losses go on Schedule 3, with the total carried to the main return. Business income, if that applies to you, goes on a different form. Staking or earn rewards treated as income go on the income lines rather than Schedule 3.
Keep the spreadsheet, the raw exports and any notes together for six years. If the CRA sends a review letter, you can answer it from that folder. A quick reply with organized records usually settles the question. A slow reply with gaps invites more questions.
If you’ve realized you missed a past year, don’t wait. The CRA’s Voluntary Disclosures Program exists for that situation, and filing a correction yourself is normally cheaper than being found. The guide to CRA notices and unfiled returns covers what letters mean and what to do next. For your own numbers, try the Marginal Tax Rate & Tax Brackets calculator, or browse the tax calculators.
Sources
- CRA guide for cryptocurrency users and tax professionals
- CRA guide T4037, Capital gains
- CRA Form T1135, Foreign Income Verification Statement
Common questions
Does Bybit send a Canadian tax slip?
Which cost method does the CRA require for crypto?
Is moving coins from Bybit to my own wallet taxable?
What if I trade derivatives on Bybit?
Last reviewed: . Figures come from the official sources listed above. How we check the numbers and our editorial policy.