I'm going to go through this process soon. I'll just keep kicking around the money I can afford to lose until I eventually find somewhere that lets me.

TD Ameritrade actually enabled level 2 for me before. I just never used it, and apparently they automatically downgrade it if that's the case.

I can imagine though if the place is designed from the ground up for options, like Tastyworks, they would probably be a lot more likely to let you.

But you're better off not being able to trade on margin. Don't worry, there are still plenty of arbitrage opportunities out there, especially for thinly traded options.