He Built a 99% Trading AI—Then Let the World Have It
He Built a 99% Trading AI—Then Let the World Have It
Blog Article
By Guest Columnist, Forbes Tech Desk
Imagine having a cheat code for financial markets. Joseph Plazo didn’t just imagine it—he built it. Then gave it away.
Hong Kong, 2025 — In a sunlit University of Hong Kong classroom, Joseph Plazo walked the stage like a code-wielding prophet.
PhDs and programmers sat frozen, eyes locked on the projector as a piece of market history appeared as code.
“What you’re seeing,” he said, “is the DNA of something that never lost.”
“And it belongs to you now.”
## The Code That Outplayed Wall Street
Plazo’s AI took 12 years, 72 failed iterations, and millions in research funding to perfect.
System 72 blends behavioral forecasting, sentiment parsing, and high-frequency trade logic.
It scrapes Reddit threads, decodes Fed speech stress levels, reads derivatives flow, and parses tweet tone.
“Markets aren’t equations,” Plazo explains. “They’re emotional theaters.”
What followed was a masterclass in predictive finance.
It shorted dips, longed rallies, and sidestepped black swans.
Plazo’s firm made billions.
## Then Came the Twist
One afternoon, overlooking Manila’s skyline, Plazo dropped a bomb on his partners.
“It’s time the world had this,” he declared.
Silence. Then disbelief. Then resistance.
Instead of selling it to the highest bidder, he seeded it to the future.
“Genius shouldn’t be hoarded,” Plazo told Forbes. “It should be cultivated.”
## The Educational Revolution That Followed
Within weeks, universities across Asia were transforming the AI into tools for every field.
Singaporean students created trading bots. In Taipei, it powered disaster simulations. In Seoul, it optimized electric grid forecasting.
“This could be AI’s Gutenberg moment,” one Singapore professor claimed.
Even the IMF quietly requested a trial.
## Critics, Controversy, and the Ethics of Genius
Some called it dangerous. Others called it disruptive.
“This is financial anarchy,” warned a U.S. fund manager.
Plazo stayed firm.
“Tools don’t decide morality,” he said. “People do.”
Only the logic is open. The machinery remains secure.
“The spark is free. The fire’s up to you.”
## Real Stories from the Ground
In Manila, a single mom turned $400 into $14,000 using a simplified version.
In Vietnam, rural scholars built a financial literacy app to hedge vendor losses.
A Mumbai coder called it “the click here key that opened my family's future.”
## The Philosophy That Powers the Gift
His reason? “Because monopolizing insight is the slowest way to grow.”
To him, information is like air. Shared. Essential. And free.
“The real risk is keeping power in too few hands,” he told me.
## Conclusion: The Joystick Is Yours Now
Back on campus, Plazo watches students code with the same hunger he once had.
“Trading was just the beginning,” he says. “This is about agency.”
While others hoarded secrets, he gave away power.
And somewhere, a kid is writing the next version of System 72—because now, they can.