📈 Markets & Finance risk-off · 1–3 years
A what‑if from the future

What if AI-capex digestion phase pauses the mega-cap productivity trade?

After a build-ahead, hyperscalers slow incremental AI capex to digest capacity, pausing the order flow that lifted suppliers and the mega-cap narrative; the digestion phase cools risk in AI-levered equities.

26%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 26% · 90% range 7–46% · 25 analogues · measured class tech_ai_bull 57% in 3 yr · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — tech_ai_bull ≈0.2842/yr → 57% in 3 yr57%
Analyst prior · editorial share 45% of the class26%
Pooled · weight 81%27%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)27%
Published26%

The class rate is measured from our dated, sourced event library (decade-normalized Poisson — the full table is public at base_rates.json). The variant’s share within its class is the analyst’s editorial call, published so you can audit it. A wider range means thinner precedent. Full recipe: methodology · scored at Reality Check.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (gold) over time vs the crowd's (Polymarket, blue), from the past toward the 1–3 years horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. The gold path is an illustrative reconstruction anchored to today's estimate — real dated events, not a live re-estimate history.

loading the timeline…

What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a risk-off shock. After a build-ahead, hyperscalers slow incremental AI capex to digest capacity, pausing the order flow that lifted suppliers and the mega-cap narrative; the digestion phase cools risk in AI-levered equities. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Volatility (VIX) ▲ · AI capex ▼ · Risk appetite ▼ · Robotics productivity ▼ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

If it happens — the markets it would move

Biggest moves first. Projected moves are cascade-model priors; hist A–B% = what comparable past events actually did (measured abnormal returns), and model prior · unmeasured marks markets with no analogue backing yet. Tap any market for its price history.

MarketClassProjected move
1Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -1.24–+0.49% · other way +1.42% (n=12)
2Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.9%
hist -0.67–+0.17% · other way +1.09% (n=12)
3Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -1.21–+2.09% · other way +1.03% (n=12)
4Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -2.01–+0.33% · other way +2.5% (n=12)
5Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.7%
hist -0.44–-0.21% · other way -0.43% (n=12)
6Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.5%
hist -15.94–+2.74% · other way -6.28% (n=12)
7AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -0.64–-0.03% · other way -2.91% (n=12)
8TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -2.08–+0.62% · other way +1.72% (n=12)
9Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -0.46–+0.26% · other way +0.2% (n=12)
10Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartVol▲ +0.5%
hist -4.26–+1.88% · other way +2.47% (n=12)
11Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -0.3–-0.18% · other way -0.45% (n=12)
12ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -1.6–+0.5% · other way -2.38% (n=12)
13Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.4%
model prior · unmeasured
14MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -1.97–+3.31% · other way +18.8% (n=12)

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
Cash / hedgeRaise cash and hold the long hedges above; this scenario is net risk-off.
For a common-man portfolio: A typical stock-heavy portfolio is at risk. Consider trimming equities, raising cash, and a small cash hedge.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Tech sector -0.5%

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 25 analogous events (overlap‑weighted), as abnormal returns — market beta stripped, so it's the event's own effect, not the market backdrop. Shown at 20 days (persistent) and 5 days (immediate); ↺ fades = the two horizons disagree. Confidence = consistency × sample × significance.

TSMC slumps as DeepSeek roils AI-chip demand assumptions 2025-02 Megacap AI-capex doubt selloff 2024-07 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 Micron's weak FQ2 guidance sparks a sharp December selloff 2024-12 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 VIX third-highest spike on record 2024-08 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Nikkei 225 surpasses its 1989 bubble peak 2024-02 Nvidia AI-guidance blowout ignites the automation/AI capex wave 2023-05 Netflix subscriber-loss crash 2022-04 Meta 2022-02 Evergrande debt crisis - global selloff 2021-09 Didi removed from China app stores after NYSE IPO 2021-07 COVID-19 fourth circuit breaker 2020-03 COVID-19 second Level-1 circuit breaker 2020-03 Worst Christmas Eve selloff on record 2018-12 Nvidia crypto-glut guidance crash 2018-11 February 2018 hot wage print triggers rate scare 2018-02 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 China-led global 'Black Monday' rout 2015-08 SEC approves Limit Up-Limit Down plan and revised market-wide circuit breakers 2012-05 US-downgrade Black Monday equity rout and VIX spike to 48 2011-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 VIX record intraday high of 89.53 2008-10 Shanghai Sneeze global selloff with then-record VIX spike 2007-02
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
SOL SOLSHORT-13.2% · 5d -5.6%93%13 0.58✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-8.6% · 5d -5.2%71%18 0.35✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+1.7% · 5d -0.4% ↺ fades65%25 0.26·
QCOM QCOMSHORT-3.1% · 5d -2.2%62%25 0.17✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGLONG+0.3% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades60%24 0.16·
AVGO AVGOLONG+2.4% · 5d -1.5% ↺ fades58%23 0.15⚠ differs
MU MUSHORT-1.5% · 5d -1.0%60%25 0.15✓ matches cascade
Volatility VIXSHORT-4.2% · 5d +4.7% ↺ fades58%25 0.14⚠ differs
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-1.2% · 5d -2.8%57%20 0.12✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-0.3% · 5d -1.1%58%25 0.11✓ matches cascade
SMH SMHLONG+0.5% · 5d +0.0%54%25 0.06⚠ differs
TSM TSMSHORT-1.7% · 5d -1.0%54%25 0.06✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLLONG+0.5% · 5d +1.2%54%25 0.06⚠ differs
10y yield DGS10SHORT-10bp · 5d +3bp ↺ fades54%25 0.06·

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Crowd odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-07-03.