The Day Trading Show

Scott Pulcini breaks down why CVD divergences are unreliable and reveals what's actually driving the market: options flow, gamma levels, and price-change algos. After 9 years of trading stop-runs and icebergs as his main edge, he's shifted focus to zero-DTE options hedging by dealers—which moves 90% of intraday action most days.

The key insight: stop/iceberg events validate where the market will react, but options flow (gamma, pace of tape, relative volume) tells you when and how. He demonstrates real trades including why his 3-minute VWAP trade worked and how price-change reversions can be scalped or held based on confluence.

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Connect with Scott - https://www.scottpulcinitrader.com/

0:00 — Headline risk destroying setups; options flow now dominates
3:00 — Stop runs & icebergs → options gamma edge shift (9 years vs new game)
8:03 — Real-time options flow example: dealers hedging move market, visible in charts
13:14 — Why CVD divergences fail: it only shows aggressor, not intention
16:48 — Six stop/iceberg setups; GEX levels are magnets dealers must hedge at
20:15 — Zero-DTE gamma "sexy gexi" entries vs reversion trades off GEX bounces
23:54 — Randy's YM trade: bought VWAP at 9:57 ET, out in 3 mins (entry anatomy)
27:35 — Euro options flow drives hero, not futures → source of moves
31:45 — Market pulse price change algo: reversion-to-mean every 5 min when quiet
35:48 — Relative volume key: use Sierra Charts (30-day lookback), not Thinkorswim (60-period only)
39:30 — Real NQ trade setup: VWAP + GEX2 + price change + pace of tape = "reversion dream"
42:50 — How to manage: scalp around position or trail half using price-change exits
46:20 — Risk half an ATR on price-change scalps; protect against big money runs
49:01 — Scott's chart tabs problem: too much data layered, needs Bookmap UI fix

Nick Stewart is BACK!! In today's podcast, he reveals how he scaled from a $50K live account to $270K+ in withdrawals this year by ditching prop firms and sizing up to 10x on high-probability setups.

🎟️ ASFX Futures Bootcamp 2027 – Tampa, May 13-14
🔗 https://www.asfx.biz/bootcamp

He breaks down the copy trading strategy that lets traders manage multiple funded accounts simultaneously, shares the psychology of handling big losses (he took a $21K hit in one day), and explains why futures payouts beat CFDs for consistency. Plus: Trade Set journal launch, UK bootcamp announcement, and NYC event details for the community.

Connect with Nick: https://www.youtube.com/@TimeToEatTrading

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Code MATCH
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0:26 — Family update: 4 kids, life's good
2:13 — Nick confirmed as Bootcamp 2027 speaker (first teaching gig)
4:54 — Futures payouts easier than CFDs (no drawdown seesaw trap)
8:22 — Evals - instant funded for new traders (cheap learning phase)
13:14 — Copy trading setup: 3 of 5 accounts locked after daily P&L
17:13 — New trader mindset: don't take wins or losses personal
20:45 — Playbook building: collect 20+ samples, find your edge
24:15 — High win rate trap: 70% WR = 30 unavoidable losses per 100 trades
28:07 — Live account leap: $50K -- $130K -- withdraw, repeat ($270K total YTD)
33:28 — Left prop firms for freedom; trading 5–10K size now
35:48 — Gold 90–95% of trades, selective NQ entries, avoiding chop
39:30 — TradeSet journal launched: analytics + mindset + behavior scoring
45:28 — Bootcamp talk prep: technical focus, show wins + losses + strategy

The boys are back for the first Home Team episode since the London Prop Firm Expo and the May Bootcamp. Austin, Randy, Evan, and Bruce dig into Bootcamp 2026 recap stories, why copy trading is the real scale in prop trading (and why people blame it for their own losses), the VTC indicator/double break strategy trends, prop firm drama, and wrap with NFL/NBA/MLB predictions for the fall.

🎯 Sponsor: Prop Firm Match — Compare 40+ prop firms side-by-side. 
Code MATCH
🔗 https://www.propfirmmatch.com/?a_aid=asfx 

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🔗 https://www.asfx.biz/ts 

🎥 Trade Live With Me — Free 30-day trial
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🔗 https://www.asfx.biz/tz 

00:00 – Cold open: "documentation of the end of ASFX" + copy trading blame game
01:12 – Intro back from London Expo & May Bootcamp
02:00 – Bootcamp 2027 tickets on sale, Randy's stage evolution story
04:16 – The dinner bill roast — "how cheap some influencers really are"
09:41 – Prop firm drama, copy trading as the real scale, TradeSyncer discount code
12:08 – Copy trading psychology: "your trading capital's got to match your mental capital"
19:59 – TradeSyncer sponsor read + ASFX stream free trial offer
20:57 – VTC indicator, double break win rate, systematic vs. discretionary trading
39:38 – "Rich" giveaway winner story — blew 3 accounts, now stacking payouts
1:00:58 – NFL/NBA/MLB predictions wrap + Penn State college football game idea

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.

🎯 Sponsor: Prop Firm Match — Compare 40+ prop firms side-by-side.
Code MATCH
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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.

Sponsor: Prop Firm Match 
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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.

🔄 Sponsor: TradeSyncer — 30% off w/ code ASFX
🔗 https://www.asfx.biz/ts 

🎥 Trade Live With Me — Free 30-day trial
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🔗 https://www.asfx.biz/tz 

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