🛢 Energy & Commodities mixed · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if Asian teapot run cuts deepen the crude surplus?

Thin margins and import-quota tightening force Chinese independent refiners to slash crude runs, removing a large block of import demand; the run cuts swell the seaborne surplus and weigh on Brent.

32%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 32% · 90% range 7–57% · 40 analogues · measured class deflation 44% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — deflation ≈0.3895/yr → 44% in 18 mo44%
Analyst prior · editorial share 79% of the class35%
Pooled · weight 87%33%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)33%
Published32%

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 6–18 months 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 mixed shock. Thin margins and import-quota tightening force Chinese independent refiners to slash crude runs, removing a large block of import demand; the run cuts swell the seaborne surplus and weigh on Brent. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — China growth ▼ · Inflation expectations ▼ · Oil demand ▼ · Risk appetite ▲ — 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
1Copper XCUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.97–+0.22% · other way -5.9% (n=7)
2WTI crude CLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.84–+0.19% · other way -6.93% (n=7)
3Freeport (copper) FCX 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.15–-0.01% · other way -8.42% (n=7)
4China internet KWEBon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.61–+0.12% · other way +1.85% (n=3)
5Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▲ +0.2%
model prior · unmeasured
6Alibaba BABAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.32–+0.41% · other way +3.8% (n=3)
7Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▲ +0.1%
hist -3.21–+1.18% · other way +3.92% (n=3)
830y Treasury yield DGS30 📈 chartRate▼ -1bp
hist -1.06–+0.25% · other way +38.2% (n=11)
910y Treasury yield DGS10 📈 chartRate▼ -1bp
hist -0.96–-0.15% · other way +31.9% (n=12)

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
For a common-man portfolio: Mixed for a typical portfolio — the move is more about rotation than direction. Favour the winners over the losers below rather than net exposure.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Freeport (copper) -0.2% · 30y Treasury yield -1bp · 10y Treasury yield -1bp

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 40 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.

Henry Hub natural gas hits a 25-year low amid record US production 2024-11 Waha hub natural gas prices crash to record negative on Permian glut 2024-08 WTI crude futures settle negative as demand collapses 2020-04 Oil collapses from $147 to the $30s as the GFC craters demand 2008-12 Platinum hits an 11-year high on Chinese jewelry demand and deficit 2025-06 China stock-market circuit-breaker fiasco 2016-01 August 24, 2015 ETF flash crash 2015-08 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 DeepSeek shock crushes AI-power utilities Vistra and Constellation 2025-01 Palladium jumps after US pushes G7 sanctions on Russian metal 2024-10 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 Nikkei 225 record single-day rebound 2024-08 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 PJM grid emergency during Winter Storm Elliott 2022-12 Offshore yuan hits a record low 2022-11 European TTF gas hits all-time record high 2022-08 China fires ballistic missiles into Japan's EEZ during Taiwan drills 2022-08 Alibaba upsizes buyback to record $25 billion 2022-03 Kaisa Group offshore default 2021-12 Evergrande debt crisis - global selloff 2021-09 Didi removed from China app stores after NYSE IPO 2021-07 China's Sichuan Bitcoin-mining ban completes the 2021 crackdown 2021-06 Bitcoin May 2021 crash 2021-05 Copper tops $10,000 a tonne for the first time since 2011 2021-04 Texas grid failure during Winter Storm Uri 2021-02 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Norilsk Nickel Arctic diesel spill 2020-05 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Apple cuts revenue guidance on China weakness 2019-01 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 China's PBOC reveals 57% jump in gold reserves after six-year silence 2015-07 Shanghai A-share bubble peak / crash begins 2015-06 SNB introduces negative interest rates 2014-12 Russian ruble 'Black Tuesday' 2014-12
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
KWEB KWEBSHORT-0.5% · 5d -1.2%61%38 0.22✓ matches cascade
Volatility VIXSHORT-4.6% · 5d -3.5%63%40 0.22·
XCU XCUSHORT-0.8% · 5d -1.1%62%39 0.21✓ matches cascade
CL CLSHORT-0.7% · 5d -2.1%61%39 0.20✓ matches cascade
SOL SOLSHORT-3.0% · 5d -13.2%61%27 0.16⚠ differs
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-1.3% · 5d -4.2%59%38 0.15·
Gold XAULONG+1.2% · 5d -0.1% ↺ fades57%39 0.13·
US dollar DXYLONG+0.1% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades57%40 0.12·
30y yield DGS30LONG+1bp · 5d +2bp54%40 0.07⚠ differs
FCX FCXLONG+0.1% · 5d -0.1% ↺ fades46%39 0.00⚠ differs
BABA BABALONG+0.5% · 5d -1.5% ↺ fades39%38 0.00⚠ differs
10y yield DGS10LONG+0bp · 5d +2bp41%40 0.00⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGLONG+0.5% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades41%39 0.00·

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.