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.

Tradier is less a destination than an engine: a brokerage built API-first, known for powering third-party trading frontends. Its own web platform is deliberately simple — plenty for a 0DTE SPY scalp, and the account plugs into other tools later.

Approval before anything

Request options access when opening the account or from settings; buying long calls and puts is the standard first grant. Verify same-day expirations are turned on for your account before the open (does my broker offer 0DTE SPY).

A no-frills chain

Quote SPY, open the chain, choose today (SPY lists a 0DTE every weekday). The display is spare — which is fine, because the two numbers a scalper needs are there: read the quote, then pick a strike a responsive near-the-money strike and pass on the far-OTM lottery ticket.

Order in, stop on, done

Place the order as a limit at one contract, then set your stop — the spare interface has no guardrails to save you, decay is fast on 0DTE, and a hard stop beats a mental one. Decide the exit before entry and never drift into the close.

Tradier keeps the brokerage out of your way. What fills the space you clear is up to you.

The part no broker gives you

A clean pipe and a bare screen leave the reading entirely to you. That’s where NoVo fits: it maps the dealer levels on SPY, QQQ and IWM and keeps a scored record of what that structure has tended to mean. It does not connect to Tradier or any other broker — you place every trade yourself. Either way: start small, and remember levels are structure, not signals.