⚔ Geopolitics risk-off · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if M23 seizes Congo's tin and tungsten belt?

M23 taking Maniema/Walikale chokes tin and tungsten, so the actionable move is in those metals (LME tin, APT/ferro-tungsten), not the generic equity risk-off the cascade shows -- DRC is a top global tin/tantalum source. Rhymes with the 2010-2011 Dodd-Frank conflict-minerals squeeze and 2022 tin's spike above $50k. Transmission runs DRC -> Rwanda smuggling -> Malaysian/Chinese smelters -> solder for electronics; China dominates tungsten. Forward angle: thin inventories make this a metals-specific spike, not a beta event.

15%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 15% · 90% range 0–31% · 40 analogues · measured class supply_chain 26% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — supply_chain ≈0.2052/yr → 26% in 18 mo26%
Analyst prior · editorial share 60% of the class16%
Pooled · weight 87%16%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)16%
Published15%

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 risk-off shock. M23 pushes beyond Kivu to capture the Maniema and Walikale tin-and-tungsten mining belt, choking a second tranche of global battery-metal supply. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Geopolitical risk ▲ · Semiconductor supply risk ▲ · Industrial demand ▼ — 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▲ +5.0%
hist -0.29–+9.55% · other way -5.62% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.8%
hist -1.12–-0.47% · other way +0.53% (n=12)
3TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.2%
hist -3.14–+0.44% · other way -0.33% (n=12)
4Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.1%
hist -0.88–-0.33% · other way +1.05% (n=12)
5Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.1%
hist -1.23–-0.12% · other way +7.28% (n=12)
6Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -0.78–-0.17% · other way +0.9% (n=12)
7S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.0%
hist -1.4–+0.03% · other way +1.65% (n=12)
8ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -3.44–+1.11% · other way -3.44% (n=12)
9AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -1.89–+0.24% · other way -1.73% (n=12)
10Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -0.95–+0.94% · other way +1.15% (n=12)
11Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -4.27–+1.21% · other way -6.54% (n=12)
12Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -0.95–+0.81% · other way +0.08% (n=12)
13Gold XAUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.5%
hist +0.02–+0.67% · other way +0.45% (n=12)
14MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -1.47–+3.44% · other way +18.79% (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 -1.3% · High-yield credit -0.5% · Lockheed +0.4% · Northrop +0.3% · Financials -0.3% · Freeport (copper) -0.2%

Why we may diverge from history

Trust the cascade SHORT on MU/SMH: the +3% history is the AI-capex/memory-up cycle swamping a Congo tin-tungsten channel, and MU's 2017 North-Korea analogues are too stale and off-driver to trust.

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.

Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 TSMC slumps as DeepSeek roils AI-chip demand assumptions 2025-02 Micron's weak FQ2 guidance sparks a sharp December selloff 2024-12 ASML bookings-miss crash 2024-10 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 Megacap AI-capex doubt selloff 2024-07 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 Netflix subscriber-loss crash 2022-04 Tin hits nominal record on LME above $48,000/t 2022-03 Meta 2022-02 Burkina Faso coup d'etat 2022-01 Didi removed from China app stores after NYSE IPO 2021-07 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Huawei added to Entity List + ICT executive order 2019-05 Nvidia crypto-glut guidance crash 2018-11 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Gold futures velocity-logic flash crash 2014-01 Gold all-time peak of $1,921/oz 2011-09 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10 Tiananmen Square crackdown 1989-06 Chernobyl disaster 1986-04 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Reagan assassination attempt 1981-03 Silver Thursday 1980-03
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+6.5% · 5d +3.6%70%33 0.36✓ matches cascade
FCX FCXSHORT-4.1% · 5d -2.4%69%32 0.32✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-7.3% · 5d -5.8%69%24 0.29✓ matches cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-3.5% · 5d -2.5%64%38 0.26✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-4.3% · 5d -3.1%65%27 0.24✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.4% · 5d -1.7%64%38 0.22✓ matches cascade
TSM TSMSHORT-2.3% · 5d -2.7%63%32 0.20✓ matches cascade
SOL SOLSHORT-2.9% · 5d -6.9%63%20 0.18✓ matches cascade
MSTR MSTRLONG+3.4% · 5d -2.0% ↺ fades61%31 0.17⚠ differs
NDX NDXSHORT-0.2% · 5d -1.2%61%36 0.16✓ matches cascade
MU MUSHORT-3.6% · 5d -2.9%58%36 0.14✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+0.4% · 5d -0.7% ↺ fades56%31 0.10✓ matches cascade
XLK XLKLONG+0.3% · 5d -0.7% ↺ fades56%31 0.09⚠ differs
LMT LMTLONG+2.7% · 5d +1.0%55%40 0.09✓ matches cascade

Why this probability

M23 momentum genuine in 2025-26; expansion to new mining belt plausible despite Doha talks A base‑rate‑anchored prior, continuously scored against what actually happens — not a forecast.

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.