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

What if Putin succession scramble freezes Russian policy?

An abrupt leadership vacuum in the Kremlin injects acute uncertainty into energy and sanctions policy, spiking gold and European gas volatility on Russia-risk repricing.

13%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 13% · 90% range 4–22% · 40 analogues · measured class energy 89% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — energy ≈1.4869/yr → 89% in 18 mo89%
Analyst prior · editorial share 13% of the class12%
Pooled · weight 87%13%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)13%
Published13%

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. An abrupt leadership vacuum in the Kremlin injects acute uncertainty into energy and sanctions policy, spiking gold and European gas volatility on Russia-risk repricing. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Gold ▲ · European energy ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ · Risk appetite ▼ — 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▲ +7.9%
hist +1.4–+6.4% · other way -9.61% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -3.1%
hist -2.06–-0.55% · other way +0.27% (n=12)
3Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.2%
hist -1.34–-0.72% · other way +0.29% (n=12)
4S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.8%
hist -1.54–-0.46% · other way +0.66% (n=12)
5MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.7%
hist -2.15–+1.84% · other way +11.86% (n=12)
6Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.6%
hist -1.28–-0.39% · other way -0.2% (n=12)
7Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -1.4%
hist -4.12–+6.37% · other way -1.88% (n=11)
8Gold XAUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +1.3%
hist +0.28–+0.93% · other way +0.74% (n=12)
9Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -1.1%
model prior · unmeasured
10Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -1.0%
hist -3.08–+0.67% · other way +4.46% (n=11)
11Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -1.0%
hist -3.06–+0.6% · other way +8.87% (n=11)
12Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.2%
hist -3.03–+0.34% · other way -0.32% (n=12)
13AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.0%
hist -3.02–+0.33% · other way -2.12% (n=12)
14Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.0%
hist -0.94–+0.28% · other way -0.29% (n=11)

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 -2.2% · High-yield credit -0.9% · Financials -0.6% · Lockheed +0.5% · JPMorgan -0.5% · Northrop +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 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 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 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 April 2024 Iranian drone-and-missile barrage on Israel 2024-04 Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russian refineries, lifting crude and gasoline 2024-03 Gabon coup d'etat 2023-08 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 ExxonMobil posts most profitable year for any US oil company 2023-01 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage 2022-09 US-led 240-million-barrel SPR release answers the Ukraine spike 2022-03 Houthi drone-and-missile strike on Aramco's Jeddah depot 2022-03 Houthi drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi oil sites lifts Brent to 7-year high 2022-01 Myanmar military coup 2021-02 Abqaiq-Khurais strike triggers the biggest Brent spike on record 2019-09 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Houthi drones strike Saudi East-West crude pipeline 2019-05 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Thailand 2014 military coup 2014-05 Libya civil war halts output and lifts Brent above $100 2011-02 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 2006 Lebanon War oil spike 2006-07 Iraq invasion 2003 relief rally 2003-03 Venezuela coup attempt against Hugo Chávez 2002-04 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 OPEC and non-OPEC Vienna pact ends the 1998 price war 1999-03 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Operation Desert Storm begins 1991-01 Tiananmen Square crackdown 1989-06 1986 oil price collapse bottoms below $10 a barrel 1986-07 Anwar Sadat assassinated 1981-10
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
MRVL MRVLSHORT-2.4% · 5d -3.0%73%31 0.34✓ matches cascade
NDX NDXSHORT-0.7% · 5d -0.8%72%38 0.33✓ matches cascade
USDJPY USDJPYLONG+1.6% · 5d +0.2%69%33 0.33⚠ differs
COIN COINLONG+9.0% · 5d +2.2%69%15 0.31⚠ differs
AMD AMDSHORT-2.2% · 5d -1.3%69%39 0.29✓ matches cascade
NVDA NVDASHORT-2.2% · 5d -4.6%66%32 0.26✓ matches cascade
JPM JPMLONG+2.3% · 5d +0.0%64%39 0.24⚠ differs
Volatility VIXLONG+2.5% · 5d +2.5%64%35 0.23✓ matches cascade
TSM TSMSHORT-2.1% · 5d -3.2%64%33 0.22✓ matches cascade
QCOM QCOMSHORT-2.1% · 5d -1.7%63%33 0.21✓ matches cascade
INR INRSHORT-0.3% · 5d +0.1% ↺ fades63%28 0.20✓ matches cascade
MU MUSHORT-3.0% · 5d -4.1%62%38 0.19✓ matches cascade
SOL SOLLONG+7.1% · 5d -4.1% ↺ fades62%16 0.17⚠ differs
LMT LMTLONG+2.8% · 5d +0.1%60%40 0.17✓ 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.