The Day Trading Show

Dylan Maltman of Apex Capital Management (Cape Town) joins the show to break down how he went from a banned retail prop trader to running an AI-native futures hedge fund.
He details Apex's origin story, the difference between proprietary trading and challenge-based prop firms, and how Apex structures capital raising through SMAs vs. LPGP vehicles.

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He dives deep into daily operations — fully automated order-flow strategies run on the Sierra platform with Chicago colocation for millisecond latency — and explains why Apex doesn't do manual or discretionary trades, instead selling investors on a consistent risk/return distribution.
He also unpacks how AI now touches every part of the fund's research and execution pipeline, and closes with a technical breakdown of the order book square root law and why speed matters in delta/order-flow trading.

Connect with Dylan - https://za.linkedin.com/in/dylan-maltman-8b575b1b1

00:01:22 – Dylan joins from Cape Town; intro and backstory with Austin
00:03:53 – What Apex Capital actually is: proprietary trading firm, not a challenge-based prop firm
00:05:09 – Dylan's background: crypto prop shop, sell-side derivatives, then going independent
00:06:01 – Getting banned from retail challenges, the Luxembourg hedge fund offer, and founding Apex in 2024
00:08:16 – Entrepreneurial mindset: separating the fantasy of trading from the reality
00:10:00 – Designing Apex's capital structure around survivability, not high-growth VC style
00:12:31 – Day-to-day life as a fund manager: strategy design, P&L checks, watching latency
00:17:17 – Why Apex uses Sierra platform and Chicago colocation instead of building custom tech yet
00:18:01 – What it was like raising capital in the early days vs. now
00:23:01 – Apex's niche: asymmetric strategies for hedge funds and prop groups focused on drawdown
00:26:35 – How scaling client allocations works, from starting ticket to max cap
00:29:00 – SMA structure explained: how client money never touches Dylan directly
00:33:00 – Latency and risk engine allocation across sub-accounts explained
00:36:34 – Why Apex is fully automated with no manual/discretionary trades
00:44:19 – Biggest mistake: a risk-sizing error on a new order management system import
00:50:59 – Order book square root law explained — why speed matters in delta/order-flow trading
00:56:09 – Closing thoughts and where to find Dylan and Apex Capital

James Sixsmith, CEO of Take Profit Trader, returns to The Day Trading Show for a deep-dive on prop firm infrastructure, risk management, and what actually predicts a trader's success. He explains the difference between front-end platforms (NinjaTrader, Tradovate, Wealth Charts) and back-end order/risk management systems (CQG, Rithmic, Teton, CTS), and why building a fully in-house risk system has taken TPT two years and counting.

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He goes deep on CME Rule 575 (disruptive/spoofing practices) and why TPT enforces live-market rules in simulation too — because strategies that work in sim get carried into live, and TPT is on the hook with the CME regardless of account size. He teases the upcoming TPT Score (a multi-factor, AI-driven scorecard using 120+ data vectors from 6.6 billion filled sides) and confirms it's being held back until edge cases are reliable enough to avoid ranking mismatches. The conversation closes with his read on what separates winning traders — smaller size, longer hold times, fewer trades — and how prop trading fits into the broader boom in prediction markets, AI-assisted trading, and retail speculation.

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00:01:23 – Stanley Cup talk (Caps, Canes, Panthers, Rod Brind'Amour)
00:10:10 – Pro+ program updates and platform landscape (Wealth Charts, Apex)
00:13:00 – Front-end vs. back-end: CQG, Rithmic, Teton, CTS explained
00:16:40 – Why building an in-house risk/platform system takes years
00:23:20 – Strategies TPT won't fund; simulation exploitation
00:24:40 – CME Rule 575, spoofing, and Aventus surveillance system
00:33:00 – How TPT protects downside on live accounts using trade data
00:38:05 – TPT Score explained: 120+ AI vectors, why it's not live yet
00:52:00 – What makes an ideal trader: trade smaller and less often
00:56:00 – Copy trading, leverage, and why "9010 rule" traders complain

Zach (Real Deal Futures) returns for part 3 of The Day Trading Show to break down his run of five consecutive five-figure months in prop firm payouts.

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Click here — ⁠https://www.propfirmmatch.com/?a_aid=asfxThey dig into the community backlash around traders getting "moved to live" right before big sim payouts, how Zach approaches spend/reinvestment discipline (funding new evals with prior payouts rather than a fixed budget), what "aggressive" trading actually means (patient entries + heavy size, not random clicking), and why higher-frequency scalping with modest risk-to-reward tends to favor consistent payouts. Zach also explains why he shut down his free YouTube streams to launch a high-touch, four-month one-on-one coaching program (unlimited text/call access, weekly check-ins), and the two wrap with talk on futures trading competitions, in-person community at events, and the ASFX Bootcamp returning May 13–14 in Tampa.Connect With Zach  @RealDealFutures 
Work with me + discounts on my favorite firms → https://www.asfx.biz/links

Rob Hoffman — founder of Wealth Charts and the most decorated real-money trading competition champion in the world — joins the show to break down the wild growth of prop trading, why Wealth Charts refuses outside ownership, and the inside story of how an Apex conversation sparked a Trading View competitor. Plus: details on the upcoming Wealth 365 Summit and 600+ free prop evaluations.

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00:00 – Cold open: prop industry explosion
01:31 – Rob's intro & 37 championships
05:01 – Best competition story: Daryl vs. Rob (Apex)
08:56 – Trading through a Trump speech in Italy
10:59 – Prop's explosive growth: exciting vs. terrifying
12:03 – The "yolo" account-blowing problem
24:03 – Wealth Charts ownership: zero outside equity
31:35 – How Daryl Martin inspired Wealth Charts Prop
34:03 – 10 new prop firms signed in 2 weeks
42:17 – Wealth 365 Summit sign-up + close

Austin sits down with Lander, who turned his entertainment-driven YouTube channel into a launchpad for his options trading career — including connections with traders like Lance Breitstein. He breaks down how he's pulled $20K in payouts from Vanquish, sharing the exact multi-strike tactic he uses to clear the consistency rule fast and get funded without grinding through eval purgatory.

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