⚔ Geopolitics risk-off · 1–3 years
A what‑if from the future

What if sustained great-power tension forces European defense budgets toward 3-5% of GDP?

Sustained great-power tension forces European defense budgets toward 3–5% of GDP, widening fiscal deficits and term premia even as it boosts the defense sector.

12%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 12% · 90% range 3–20% · 40 analogues · measured class defense 97% in 3 yr · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — defense ≈1.2155/yr → 97% in 3 yr97%
Analyst prior · editorial share 10% of the class10%
Pooled · weight 87%12%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)12%
Published12%

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. Sustained great-power tension forces European defense budgets toward 3–5% of GDP, widening fiscal deficits and term premia even as it boosts the defense sector. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Credit spreads ▲ · Defense spending ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ · Real yields ▲ — 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
1Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartVol▲ +6.4%
hist -0.08–+8.9% · other way -3.55% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -2.6%
hist -1.79–-0.66% · other way +0.4% (n=12)
3Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.1%
hist -1.35–-0.13% · other way +0.42% (n=12)
4Lockheed LMT 📈 chartEquity▲ +1.5%
hist +0.23–+1.64% · other way -2.86% (n=12)
5S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.4%
hist -1.4–-0.28% · other way -0.7% (n=12)
6Northrop NOC 📈 chartEquity▲ +1.4%
hist +0.1–+1.67% · other way -2.07% (n=12)
7RTX RTXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▲ +1.2%
hist -1.03–+0.88% · other way -3.05% (n=12)
8Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.2%
hist -0.99–+0.5% · other way +3.07% (n=12)
9MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.2%
hist -1.18–+0.51% · other way +25.41% (n=12)
10High-yield credit HYG 📈 chartRate▼ -0.8%
hist -1.06–-0.05% · other way -0.07% (n=12)
11Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.7%
hist -5.47–+1.92% · other way +6.5% (n=11)
12Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.9%
hist -0.91–+0.5% · other way +3.1% (n=12)
13Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.7%
hist -3.66–+1.69% · other way -3.1% (n=11)
14AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -1.09–+1.1% · other way +0.74% (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 gold hedge.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Tech sector -2.1% · Lockheed +1.5% · Northrop +1.4% · High-yield credit -0.8% · Financials -0.6% · JPMorgan -0.5%

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.

Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Operation Sindoor: India strikes Pakistan after Pahalgam attack 2025-05 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 First Republic Bank seized and sold to JPMorgan 2023-05 Regional-bank panic deepens after Signature seizure 2023-03 China fires ballistic missiles into Japan's EEZ during Taiwan drills 2022-08 Kaisa Group offshore default 2021-12 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 India's Balakot airstrike inside Pakistan 2019-02 Pulwama attack ignites India-Pakistan crisis 2019-02 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 Turkish lira crisis 2018-08 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 HYG record outflows in 2014 high-yield rout 2014-10 Mt. Gox collapse 2014-02 Mt. Gox halts withdrawals 2014-02 Cyprus deposit bail-in 2013-03 Spain requests EUR100bn bank bailout 2012-06 Bankia nationalised in Spain's banking crisis 2012-05 Portugal requests EU-IMF bailout 2011-04 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Greece first EU/IMF bailout 2010-05 Greece requests EU/IMF bailout 2010-04 Anglo Irish Bank nationalisation 2009-01 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship 2008-09 IndyMac Bank seized by the Office of Thrift Supervision 2008-07 Northern Rock bank run 2007-09 American Home Mortgage bankruptcy 2007-08 Bear Stearns freezes redemptions on subprime hedge funds 2007-06 New Century Financial bankruptcy 2007-04 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2001-12 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
COIN COINLONG+12.5% · 5d +9.2%85%12 0.55⚠ differs
HOOD HOODLONG+8.2% · 5d +0.9%69%12 0.36⚠ differs
MRVL MRVLSHORT-0.5% · 5d -2.9%72%40 0.35✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.6% · 5d -0.1%69%37 0.31✓ matches cascade
AVGO AVGOLONG+4.0% · 5d -0.5% ↺ fades66%31 0.31⚠ differs
ETH ETHSHORT-6.8% · 5d -3.5%68%18 0.28✓ matches cascade
AUD AUDSHORT-1.0% · 5d -0.0%63%38 0.24✓ matches cascade
RTX RTXSHORT-1.5% · 5d -1.6%61%40 0.19⚠ differs
SOL SOLSHORT-3.3% · 5d -7.4%65%12 0.19✓ matches cascade
XLF XLFSHORT-0.7% · 5d -0.9%60%40 0.18✓ matches cascade
XHB XHBSHORT-1.1% · 5d -0.1%59%38 0.15✓ matches cascade
TRY TRYSHORT-0.6% · 5d +1.1% ↺ fades59%38 0.14✓ matches cascade
ASML ASMLSHORT-2.1% · 5d -3.1%59%40 0.13✓ matches cascade
US dollar DXYLONG+0.6% · 5d +0.2%58%40 0.13✓ 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.