📈 Markets & Finance risk-off · 0–6 months
A what‑if from the future

What if China steel-export surge triggers global trade backlash?

Record Chinese steel exports prompt tariffs across the US, EU and India; the trade friction reshapes steel flows and pressures iron-ore demand expectations.

25%
our model probability
over 0–6 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 25% · 90% range 8–42% · 40 analogues · measured class trade_war 49% in 6 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — trade_war ≈1.3449/yr → 49% in 6 mo49%
Analyst prior · editorial share 58% of the class28%
Pooled · weight 87%26%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)26%
Published25%

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 0–6 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 risk-off shock. Record Chinese steel exports prompt tariffs across the US, EU and India; the trade friction reshapes steel flows and pressures iron-ore demand expectations. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — China growth ▼ · Industrial demand ▼ · Risk appetite ▼ · Trade tension ▲ — 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
1Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.2%
hist -0.79–-0.43% · other way +1.81% (n=11)
2Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.0%
hist -1.01–-0.15% · other way +2.75% (n=11)
3Alibaba BABAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -1.59–+0.21% · other way -5.17% (n=8)
4Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -2.08–+0.29% · other way +10.49% (n=11)
5Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -0.57–-0.15% · other way +2.57% (n=11)
6TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -1.14–+0.04% · other way +4.87% (n=11)
7Freeport (copper) FCX 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -5.89–+1.61% · other way +8.32% (n=11)
8Chinese yuan CNY 📈 chartFX▼ -0.6%
hist -0.55–-0.09% · other way -0.17% (n=10)
9ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -2.05–+0.62% · other way +2.4% (n=11)
10AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -1.88–+0.4% · other way +7.06% (n=11)
11Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -0.61–+0.27% · other way +2.05% (n=9)
12Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -2.65–+0.75% · other way +7.93% (n=11)
13Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -1.26–+0.21% · other way +12.35% (n=11)
14Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.5%
hist -8.62–+3.14% · other way -8.23% (n=8)

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 -0.8% · Freeport (copper) -0.6% · Chinese yuan -0.6% · Aussie dollar -0.3% · Turkish lira -0.1%

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.

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 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Record $19bn crypto liquidation cascade 2025-10 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 Trump's 50% copper tariff sends Comex copper to a record 2025-07 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 India slashes gold import duty from 15% to 6% in 2024 budget 2024-07 Offshore yuan hits a record low 2022-11 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 Bitcoin May 2021 crash 2021-05 Copper tops $10,000 a tonne for the first time since 2011 2021-04 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Apple cuts revenue guidance on China weakness 2019-01 US List 3 tariffs on $200B of Chinese goods finalized 2018-09 US Section 301 List 1 tariffs take effect on China 2018-07 China retaliates: $50B tariff list incl. soybeans 2018-04 US Section 232 steel & aluminum tariffs imposed 2018-03 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Mexican peso crash on Trump 2016 win 2016-11 China stock-market circuit-breaker fiasco 2016-01 August 24, 2015 ETF flash crash 2015-08 China's PBOC reveals 57% jump in gold reserves after six-year silence 2015-07 Shanghai A-share bubble peak / crash begins 2015-06 Gold futures velocity-logic flash crash 2014-01 Gold all-time peak of $1,921/oz 2011-09 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Copper crashes to ~$1.30/lb as 2008 crisis crushes China demand 2008-12 China 4 trillion yuan stimulus 2008-11 October 27, 1997 mini-crash 1997-10 Asian financial crisis - Thai baht float 1997-07 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-2.9% · 5d -1.7%71%40 0.36✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-5.1% · 5d -6.7%68%25 0.31✓ matches cascade
KWEB KWEBSHORT-2.7% · 5d -2.1%67%33 0.29✓ matches cascade
TRY TRYSHORT-1.2% · 5d -0.1%69%37 0.29✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-1.6% · 5d -0.8%66%37 0.28✓ matches cascade
COIN COINSHORT-6.0% · 5d -2.3%63%18 0.22✓ matches cascade
FCX FCXSHORT-5.1% · 5d -1.9%62%39 0.21✓ matches cascade
QCOM QCOMSHORT-3.1% · 5d -2.8%64%39 0.21✓ matches cascade
NVDA NVDASHORT-1.5% · 5d -3.1%62%37 0.18✓ matches cascade
SOL SOLSHORT-7.9% · 5d -14.2%60%19 0.15✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.4% · 5d -1.4%58%40 0.13✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-4.2% · 5d -3.9%58%32 0.13✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.1%58%37 0.13·
BABA BABASHORT-1.1% · 5d -3.1%57%32 0.12✓ matches cascade

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.