Is there something I'm missing or are the trading fees on ANX really absurdly high compared to any other btc exchange?
TRADING FEE
You will be charged 0.6% on orders that are filled immediately (i.e. taker) regardless of whether they are submitted as limit or market order.
You will be charged 0.3% on limit orders that are resting (i.e. maker) in the market prior to being filled.

they planed to introduce a fee system based on volume, but they did not realise it. Instead they told me, if you have a volume higher than 100btc/month, you can contact them to reduce fee.