⚔ Geopolitics mixed · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if Managed US-China decoupling avoids a hard break?

Both sides pursue selective, sector-limited decoupling that preserves consumer-goods trade, keeping fragmentation contained and the growth hit modest.

28%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 28% · 90% range 14–42% · 40 analogues · measured class trade_war 87% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — trade_war ≈1.3449/yr → 87% in 18 mo87%
Analyst prior · editorial share 35% of the class30%
Pooled · weight 87%29%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)29%
Published28%

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. Both sides pursue selective, sector-limited decoupling that preserves consumer-goods trade, keeping fragmentation contained and the growth hit modest. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Global growth ▼ · 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
1Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -0.62–+0.27%
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.8%
hist -0.57–-0.07%
3Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.8%
hist -2.11–+3.14%
4TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.7%
hist -1.01–+1.31%
5Alibaba BABAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -1.78–+0.4%
6AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -2.08–+3.3%
7Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -0.74–+1.13%
8Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -0.98–+0.08%
9Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -1.67–+4.99%
10Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -0.67–+0.48%
11ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -2.26–+0.79%
12Chinese yuan CNY 📈 chartFX▼ -0.4%
hist -0.45–-0.05%
13Qualcomm QCOMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -3.99–+0.72%
14Intel INTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -7.48–+1.33%

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): Tech sector -0.6% · Chinese yuan -0.4% · Turkish lira -0.2% · Indian rupee -0.2% · Aussie dollar -0.2%

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 Nikkei 225 record single-day rebound 2024-08 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Mexican peso crash on Trump 2016 win 2016-11 August 24, 2015 ETF flash crash 2015-08 Greece first EU/IMF bailout 2010-05 2008 global rice crisis: Thai benchmark tops $1,000/ton 2008-04 Fed surprise inter-meeting cut 2001-01 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 India RBI growth-pivot rate cut 2025-12 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 Platinum hits an 11-year high on Chinese jewelry demand and deficit 2025-06 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 Bitcoin tops $111,970 for a new all-time high 2025-05 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 Tariff-pause record rally and VIX collapse 2025-04 Trump signs 25% Section 232 tariff on imported automobiles 2025-03 Tesla shares crater on DOGE political backlash and Europe sales collapse 2025-03 TSMC slumps as DeepSeek roils AI-chip demand assumptions 2025-02 Micron's weak FQ2 guidance sparks a sharp December selloff 2024-12 Nasdaq Composite first close above 20000 2024-12 S&P 500 first close above 6000 2024-11 Palladium jumps after US pushes G7 sanctions on Russian metal 2024-10 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 Nikkei 225 worst single-day crash since 1987 2024-08 KOSPI biggest-ever point loss triggers circuit breaker 2024-08 VIX third-highest spike on record 2024-08 Weak July 2024 jobs report triggers Sahm-rule growth scare 2024-08 Intel's Q2 earnings trigger its worst single-day crash since 1974 2024-08 Megacap AI-capex doubt selloff 2024-07 India slashes gold import duty from 15% to 6% in 2024 budget 2024-07 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-6.2% · 5d -3.9%70%38 0.38✓ matches cascade
QCOM QCOMSHORT-3.3% · 5d -2.6%70%37 0.29✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLLONG+4.7% · 5d -1.2% ↺ fades64%37 0.25⚠ differs
INR INRSHORT-0.5% · 5d +0.1% ↺ fades64%36 0.24✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+0.8% · 5d -0.4% ↺ fades61%37 0.20·
TRY TRYSHORT-0.9% · 5d +0.9% ↺ fades62%36 0.17✓ matches cascade
EURUSD EURUSDLONG+0.0% · 5d -0.2% ↺ fades60%36 0.16⚠ differs
AVGO AVGOLONG+1.4% · 5d -0.8% ↺ fades57%35 0.14⚠ differs
Volatility VIXSHORT-0.8% · 5d -1.3%59%38 0.14·
10y yield DGS10LONG+3bp · 5d +5bp59%38 0.14·
SMH SMHLONG+0.6% · 5d -0.4% ↺ fades57%37 0.12⚠ differs
BABA BABASHORT-1.4% · 5d -1.6%56%34 0.11✓ matches cascade
CNY CNYSHORT-0.2% · 5d -0.3%55%36 0.09✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-1.6% · 5d -2.7%56%34 0.09·

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.