By Forbes ContributorWall 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.A secondhand laptop. A wobbly table. But the simulations ran.He was coding a tool the world hadn’t asked for—an algorithm th
How a Self-Taught Filipino Coder Gave the Market a Conscience
By Feature by Forbes Editorial TeamJoseph Plazo didn’t come from Wall Street. That’s exactly why he was able to beat it.In a hot Quezon City apartment, with fans off and lights out, Joseph Plazo kept coding—driven by vision alone.His gear was outdated. His ambition wasn’t.He was building something no one believed in—a trading AI that anti