What if Chinese dams trigger a Mekong drought downstream?
Mekong dam-hoarding is a regional rice-and-protein supply shock, not a Nasdaq-vol event; trade it long Thai/Viet rice export prices and short downstream ASEAN food-importer FX, not via VIX. Rhymes with 2019-2020, when record-low Mekong levels plus China's Jinghong dam cut Vietnamese Delta output and helped drive the 2020 global rice-export-ban spike. Forward angle: China-as-upstream-hegemon weaponizing water gives Beijing a non-tariff lever over Vietnam even as Hanoi courts US supply-chain shift.
how we built this number — every step
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.
What it would mean
If this plays out, it is a risk-off shock. Upstream Chinese dams hold back water during a severe drought, collapsing downstream Mekong fisheries and Vietnamese rice. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Climate/crop supply ▲ · Food inflation ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ — 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.
| Market | Class | Projected move | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Vol | ▲ +2.5% hist +0.22–+2.77% · other way -4.53% (n=12) |
| 2 | Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Index | ▼ -0.8% hist -0.61–+0.26% · other way -0.47% (n=12) |
| 3 | Wheat WHEATon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Commodity | ▲ +0.7% hist -1.2–+1.1% · other way -2.15% (n=12) |
| 4 | Corn CORNon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Commodity | ▲ +0.7% hist -0.86–+0.89% · other way -0.6% (n=12) |
| 5 | Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.5% hist -0.41–+0.03% · other way +1.33% (n=12) |
| 6 | S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Index | ▼ -0.5% hist -1.27–+0.31% · other way +1.73% (n=12) |
| 7 | Tech sector XLK 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.6% hist -0.41–+0.61% · other way -0.31% (n=12) |
| 8 | Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -0.96–+0.19% · other way +2.5% (n=12) |
| 9 | AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -1.18–+0.19% · other way -0.63% (n=12) |
| 10 | Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -1.29–+2.33% · other way -0.79% (n=12) |
| 11 | Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -1.69–+0.6% · other way -0.64% (n=12) |
| 12 | TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -2.8–+0.67% · other way +0.94% (n=12) |
| 13 | Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.4% hist -1.43–+2.32% · other way +2.8% (n=12) |
| 14 | ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chart | Equity | ▼ -0.3% hist -1.35–+0.46% · other way -4.21% (n=12) |
Probable recommendation
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.
| Asset | History says | Abnormal (20d · 5d) | Hit | n | Confidence | vs cascade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD AMD | SHORT | -0.9% · 5d -0.4% | 65% | 36 | 0.22 | ✓ matches cascade |
| INTC INTC | SHORT | -2.1% · 5d -2.4% | 63% | 36 | 0.22 | ✓ matches cascade |
| XLK XLK | LONG | +0.8% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades | 64% | 33 | 0.21 | ⚠ differs |
| TSM TSM | SHORT | -2.4% · 5d -2.4% | 64% | 33 | 0.21 | ✓ matches cascade |
| NG NG | SHORT | -3.6% · 5d -2.7% | 61% | 33 | 0.19 | ⚠ differs |
| Volatility VIX | LONG | +1.4% · 5d +5.3% | 60% | 34 | 0.18 | ✓ matches cascade |
| 10y yield DGS10 | LONG | +10bp · 5d +6bp | 59% | 40 | 0.18 | · |
| Gold XAU | SHORT | -0.8% · 5d -0.8% | 59% | 33 | 0.15 | ⚠ differs |
| MSTR MSTR | LONG | +3.0% · 5d -2.0% ↺ fades | 60% | 33 | 0.14 | ⚠ differs |
| TRY TRY | SHORT | -1.4% · 5d +0.8% ↺ fades | 57% | 32 | 0.13 | ✓ matches cascade |
| NDX NDX | LONG | +0.6% · 5d -1.0% ↺ fades | 58% | 35 | 0.11 | ⚠ differs |
| High-yield credit HYG | SHORT | -0.4% · 5d -0.1% | 56% | 32 | 0.09 | ✓ matches cascade |
| US dollar DXY | LONG | +0.4% · 5d +0.2% | 55% | 40 | 0.09 | · |
| QCOM QCOM | SHORT | -1.6% · 5d -1.6% | 56% | 33 | 0.08 | ✓ matches cascade |
Why this probability
Mekong dam-drought recurs but full fishery+rice collapse needs severe drought; ENSO-neutral 2026 lowers odds. A base‑rate‑anchored prior, continuously scored against what actually happens — not a forecast.