Educational only, not financial advice. Broker features, options-approval requirements, 0DTE availability, and fees change and vary by account — verify current details on the broker’s own site. NoVo is independent and not affiliated with the brokers named.
NoVo is non-custodial — it doesn’t have its own brokerage and never holds your money. Instead, it connects to your own account at a supported broker — Tradier or tastytrade. Either one is a complete setup on its own, and there’s an optional third (Alpaca) if you want to paper trade first.
Tradier or tastytrade — one account does everything
Connect Tradier or tastytrade — you only need one. That single account is both your real-time data feed (the SPY tape + options chain NoVo scans to build the dealer map) and your live one-click trading (NoVo places the option orders you approve, right in that account). Fund it, turn on the free real-time market-data stream in the broker’s settings, connect it to NoVo, and you’re done. A Tradier-only user and a tastytrade-only user get the exact same NoVo — there is no difference and no second account required.
Both are regulated brokers with robust APIs built for programmatic trading. You open and fund the account yourself, keep full custody, and connect NoVo via the broker’s official API — NoVo can place trades, it cannot withdraw your funds.
Optional: Alpaca, only if you want to paper trade
Prefer to prove NoVo out with fake money first? Open a free Alpaca account and stack it alongside your Tradier or tastytrade account — NoVo runs the paper fills on Alpaca while it reads the live market from your Tradier/tastytrade feed. Alpaca is never required and can’t be your data feed on its own; it’s purely the optional paper-trading (or live-execution) layer for people who want it. Trade live on Tradier/tastytrade whenever you’re ready.
What this means for you
Your money stays in your regulated brokerage account the whole time — NoVo is the cockpit that reads the market and executes, not a place you deposit funds (why that’s safe). It also means NoVo does not execute through Robinhood, Webull, Fidelity, Schwab, or other brokers — if you want NoVo’s one-click execution, you’ll use a Tradier, tastytrade, or Alpaca account. You can still trade those other brokers manually; NoVo just isn’t connected to them.
NoVo has no brokerage of its own on purpose. Your money lives in your own Tradier, tastytrade, or Alpaca account — NoVo only ever has the keys to read the market and trade, never to withdraw.
The bottom line
NoVo connects to your own Tradier or tastytrade account, non-custodially — one account is your data feed and your live trading, with nothing else required. Add Alpaca only if you want to paper trade first. That’s a deliberate design: it keeps your funds yours (no custody risk) while giving you the dealer-map-plus-one-click-execution cockpit. If you’re evaluating NoVo, connecting one broker — Tradier or tastytrade — is the only step; everything else (the levels, sizing, stops, exits) NoVo handles on top.