Ortigas, 2025 — Inside a glass-walled laboratory on the 16th floor of a tech tower in Ortigas, a network of machines thrum like monks in unbroken meditation. On the far wall, engraved in brushed steel, five words glow in the ambient light: “Be ahead. Don’t chase. Stay fluid.”
This is the nerve hub of PSR Capital, the investment firm founded by 41-year-old polymath Joseph Plazo — the man behind the AI now known as “System 72.”
With a 99% win rate in stock markets and unprecedented performance in copyright, Plazo’s sentient market algorithm isn’t just disrupting Wall Street — it’s challenging our very model of intelligence, strategy, and risk.
But perhaps more shocking than the numbers is what he did afterwards.
He gave it away.
### The Algorithm That Senses Panic Before It Happens
“We don’t just predict trends,” Plazo says, swiping gently across a glowing interface. “We sense human volatility.”
System 72, the latest in a series of 72 experimental builds over 12 years, is not just a turbo-charged trading bot. It’s a multi-dimensional AI mind with what Plazo calls Psychometric Market Modeling — a proprietary framework that digests trillions of data points to anticipate how people will feel before the market shifts.
“It learns from volume surges, social mood shifts, tweet tone shifts, and global economic turbulence — then mirrors behavioral archetypes simultaneously,” he explains.
The result? A system that doesn’t react to the market. It leads it like a whisper of the future.
### From Brownouts to Billionaire
A decade ago, Plazo was coding deep learning prototypes by candlelight in a rented unit in Quezon City. Electricity was unreliable. The air was hot. The code was barebones.
“I didn’t have Bloomberg terminals or GPU farms. Just a cracked laptop, textbooks, and relentless drive,” he says, laughing.
He had just quit a well-paying executive job, betting his future on a dream to build a system that could decode human financial behavior — not just with speed, but with empathy.
System 27 was a disaster. System 43 looked promising… until it glitched out during a flash crash. But he kept building. Kept refining.
By System 71, the wins were stacking. With 72, it became revolutionary.
“I cried when I saw the simulation complete. Not because I was rich. But because… it worked. Finally.”
### The Decision That Stunned Wall Street
When the board of his company reviewed System 72’s results, the reaction was predictable: Monetize it. File intellectual property rights. Sell it to the highest bidder.
Plazo did the unthinkable.
“I released the source code to twelve top Asian universities,” he says. “No cost. No hedge fund gatekeeping. Just code, curiosity, and courage.”
His reason?
“I’ve seen too many people crushed by financial systems they don’t understand,” he says, pausing. “My father was one of them. A smart man. Honest. But one bad investment took it all.”
Plazo’s voice fades, the room suddenly heavy. “If he had this system, he wouldn’t have lost the house.”
That pain, he says, became the motive force. The drive. The mission.
### Teaching the World to Win
Plazo has since launched a worldwide educational initiative, speaking at institutions from Japan’s top universities to the National University of Singapore. He lectures beside machine learning professors who now teach his framework to instruct students in behavioral modeling.
“Plazo’s Emotional Momentum framework is the pioneering form of behavioral AI applied to finance today,” says Dr. Hana Kim, a lead AI researcher at SeoulTech. “It doesn’t just see markets — it understands emotion.”
Students are creating applications using the tech. One PhD student in Bangalore used a modified version to predict election outcomes. Another group in Taiwan adapted it for supply chain modeling.
“Once you understand how fear shapes behavior,” Plazo says, “you can apply it to every industry.”
### more info The Criticism, The Praise — and the Future
Not everyone’s applauding.
Some traditionalists have slammed the release as “reckless,” warning that thousands of amateur traders might misuse the tech.
Others whisper darker concerns: That the open-sourced system could lead to unregulated market chaos in hedge fund ecosystems.
But Plazo isn’t worried.
“We gave the world the printing press. It didn’t end language — it multiplied it. This is the same.”
For now, his firm continues to manage billions. But Plazo himself is stepping back from profit.
“I’m not building wealth anymore,” he says. “I’m building something bigger. There’s a difference.”
### What Comes After Godmode?
As we leave the lab, the machines drone like monks. Outside, Manila traffic snarls — chaotic, unpredictable, human.
And yet somewhere, a piece of Plazo’s code is already watching, learning, sensing the ripple before it happens.
He turns back for a moment and says, “I didn’t build a system to trade stocks. I built a system to decode fear.”
In a world where uncertainty is the only constant, Joseph Plazo didn’t just create a cheat code.
He gave away the keys.