By Feature by Forbes Editorial Team

He wasn’t from the finance elite. That’s how he beat them all.

Quezon City, Philippines — A decade ago, Joseph Plazo coded algorithms during brownouts, lit by candles and ambition.

A secondhand laptop. A wobbly table. But the simulations ran.

He was building something no one believed in—a trading AI that anticipated fear and greed before markets even blinked.

Now, System 72 outperforms the S&P 500 and predicts volatility like a prophet.

It skipped black swans. It surfed micro-rallies. It built billions in returns.

But instead of guarding it, Plazo gave it away—to students.

## Cracking the Market Without Permission

He didn’t wear suits or attend finance summits. He read whitepapers on borrowed Wi-Fi.

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, System 72 clicked. It decoded emotional signatures.

## The Day the Machine Spoke Louder Than Noise

While markets trembled, System 72 saw calm in the data fog.

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.

Kyoto, NUS, Indian IITs—all got access to the system.

“I built this for understanding—not control,” Plazo announced.

## A New Breed of Thinkers

Today, students across Asia are redefining finance education with System 72.

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 reckless.

“It’s irresponsible,” one economist said.

He wasn’t apologizing.

“A scalpel doesn’t choose how it’s used,” he said. “People do.”

The core code was open. The infrastructure? Proprietary.

## Legacy: Code as Redemption

In Korea, he got personal: “My father died broke. Not because he was dumb—but because no one taught him how markets work.”

He saw pain. He built precision.

The tech matters. The teaching matters more.

## What If the Oracle Was Always Human?

He’s in Stanford, Tokyo, and Manila—teaching intuition to institutions.

He teaches them not more info to copy—“Outgrow it,” he says.

## Final Word: The Oracle Who Shared the Map

People expected a recluse billionaire. What they got was an oracle in sneakers.

“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.