Episode #237
He Got Tired Of Prop Firms... So He Built an AI Hedge Fund
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 https://www.propfirmmatch.com/?a_aid=asfx TradeSyncer — 30% off w/ code ASFX https://www.asfx.biz/ts Trade Live With Me — Free 30-day trial https://www.asfx.biz/first TradeZella — 20% off w/ code ASFX https://www.asfx.biz/tz 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
