Nova Trade (formerly Nova Light) is a Telegram-based Solana trading bot that combines sniping, copy trading, limit orders, and AI-powered automation in a single interface. It charges 1% per trade with no subscription fee and has been gaining traction since its official launch in February 2026.
This review covers what Nova does, how it compares to alternatives, and whether it's worth using.
What Is Nova Bot?
Nova is primarily a Telegram trading bot accessible via @TradeonNovaBot. It also offers Nova Click, a Chrome extension that overlays on web-based DEX platforms like Photon and BullX for one-click trading.
The bot is non-custodial — you retain full control of your funds. It supports up to 10 wallets simultaneously.
Key Features
Sniping
Copy Trading
- Mirror any public Solana wallet in real time
- Customizable allocation per wallet
- Stop-loss triggers for copied positions
Limit Orders & Automation
- Price-based and market-cap-based trigger orders
- Time-based exits (sell after X minutes/hours)
- Take Profit (TP) and Stop Loss (SL) automation
- DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging) automation
Trade Processors
- Ultra V2 Mode: Speed-optimized execution
- Demon Processor: Fee-optimized execution
- Both use Jito MEV bundles for sandwich attack protection
Nova Click (Chrome Extension)
Overlays on web DEX platforms (Photon, BullX) to add one-click buy/sell buttons. Useful if you prefer web-based charting but want Telegram-bot speed for execution.
Nova Cosmo
Real-time token tracking with lifecycle filters — find tokens at specific stages (new launch, bonding, bonded, trending).
Onboarding and setup
Getting started with Nova follows the standard Telegram-bot flow. You open the bot, it generates one or more wallets for you on first run, and you fund those wallets by sending SOL to the deposit addresses it shows. There is no separate account, password, or KYC step — the Telegram session is your identity, and the wallet keys live on Nova's side so the bot can sign trades on your behalf the instant a button is pressed.
That last point matters and is covered in the security section below. Practically, setup takes a few minutes: fund a wallet, set a default buy amount and slippage, optionally enable a trade processor (Ultra V2 or Demon), and you can place your first order. The Chrome extension (Nova Click) requires installing the extension and linking it to the same bot session so the overlay buttons route through your funded wallet.
If you intend to use copy trading or sniping, budget a little more time to configure per-wallet allocations, stop-loss triggers, and the migration/LP sniping presets before you commit real size. The defaults are sensible but generic.
Fees
| Fee Type | Cost |
|---|
| Subscription | Free |
| Transaction fee | 1% per trade |
| Solana gas | 0.0005-0.002 SOL |
| Jito MEV tips | 0.0003-0.0015 SOL (optional) |
Nova offers a 10% fee discount and a 50% cashback program that can reduce the effective fee to approximately 0.5%. There's also a 3-tier referral program (30% / 3% / 2% of fees from referrals).
The 1% fee is mid-range for Solana trading bots — comparable to Axiom, Photon, and BullX.
A few things worth modelling before you assume the fee is cheap. The 1% is charged on each trade, so a round trip (buy then sell) costs roughly 2% in bot fees alone, before Solana gas and any Jito tip. The 10% fee discount and 50% cashback program that can bring the effective rate down to approximately 0.5% are conditional — they depend on volume tiers and the cashback mechanics, so do not treat 0.5% as your baseline until you have confirmed you qualify. For a low-frequency trader holding positions for hours or days, 1% is a rounding error against slippage on illiquid memecoins. For a high-frequency sniper turning over dozens of positions a day, the fee is the dominant cost line and is the single biggest argument against the bot — see the cons section. The referral program (30% / 3% / 2% across three tiers) only matters if you are recruiting other users; it does not reduce your own trading cost.
Security and custody considerations
Nova is non-custodial in the sense that it does not pool your funds with other users or run an exchange-style omnibus account — each user gets their own wallet(s). But "non-custodial" here is not the same as a self-custody hardware wallet. Because the bot signs trades for you the moment you tap a button, the private keys for your trading wallets are held server-side by Nova. That is the standard trade-off for every Telegram trading bot, and it is the reason these tools can execute in milliseconds: there is no human in the signing loop.
The practical implications:
- Treat your Nova wallets as hot, throwaway wallets. Fund them with only what you are actively trading, and sweep profits out to a wallet whose keys you control to a cold or hardware wallet.
- Your Telegram account is your attack surface. Enable two-factor authentication on Telegram itself and never share the bot session. Anyone with your Telegram session can move your funds.
- Export your keys if the bot offers it, and understand that exporting a key into another wallet does not revoke Nova's copy of it. Once a key has lived server-side, rotate to a fresh wallet if you want a clean break.
- The Jito MEV bundle routing (Ultra V2 and Demon processors) provides sandwich-attack protection at the transaction level — that is execution-layer protection, distinct from custody risk. It does not protect against a compromise of the bot or your Telegram account.
None of this is unique to Nova; it is the baseline risk profile of the entire Telegram-bot category. The mitigation is operational discipline, not a feature you can toggle.
