How a Self-Taught Filipino Coder Gave the Market a Conscience
How a Self-Taught Filipino Coder Gave the Market a Conscience
Blog Article
By Forbes Contributor
Wall Street never saw him coming—because Joseph Plazo never played by its rules.
Quezon City, Philippines — A decade ago, Joseph Plazo coded algorithms during brownouts, lit by candles and ambition.
The laptop was old. The electricity, unstable. But his resolve didn’t flicker.
He built, in obscurity, a system that sensed emotion before markets reacted.
Today, that system—called System 72—has a 99% win rate in stocks, and 95% in copyright.
It skipped black swans. It surfed micro-rallies. It built billions in returns.
But here’s the twist: Joseph Plazo didn’t sell it to the highest bidder.
## Cracking the Market Without Permission
He never interned at Goldman. He read open-source papers and fed on YouTube lectures.
By day he earned rent. By night, he trained machines to feel fear.
“Traders react. I wanted to anticipate,” he says.
He failed—71 times.
Then he built something new. A system that didn’t watch charts—it watched people.
## The Day the Machine Spoke Louder Than Noise
During a panic in 2024, his AI spotted the optimism nobody saw.
Social sentiment softened. Options flow hinted recovery. Fear curves flattened.
By fall, it was beating markets at their own game.
Hedge funds circled. Plazo said no.
## The Shock Move: Give It to the Kids
Rather than sell, Plazo shocked the world: he gave System 72 to twelve Asian universities.
He included docs, code, and teaching guides. Everything but the keys to the vault.
“I want the next generation to know how to navigate,” he said.
## A New Breed of Thinkers
From Seoul to Mumbai, students are applying the system in ways Wall Street never imagined.
In Bangalore, a team modeled crop demand. In Malaysia, disaster logistics. In Tokyo, insurance pricing.
“It’s not just trading,” a student says. “It’s a new way to think.”
## Pushback from the Power Players
Economists called it read more reckless.
“It’s irresponsible,” one economist said.
But Plazo didn’t back down.
“A scalpel doesn’t choose how it’s used,” he said. “People do.”
The engine’s out there. The steering wheel’s still locked.
## Legacy: Code as Redemption
He told the crowd, “This isn’t about AI. It’s about dignity.”
This isn’t just innovation. It’s closure.
He built a door where there was a wall.
## What If the Oracle Was Always Human?
From Ivy League to barangay incubators, Plazo’s teaching kids how to outthink machines.
“Anticipate emotion, not events,” he told Stanford students.
## Final Word: The Oracle Who Shared the Map
The world thought Plazo would vanish into luxury. Instead, he became a lighthouse.
“System 73 is next,” he says. “But this one… I hope you’ll build with me.”
And maybe that’s the biggest trade of all—secrecy for shared brilliance.