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

What if Russian palladium and nickel export ban hits metals?

Russia restricts palladium and nickel exports in a sanctions tit-for-tat, squeezing autocatalyst and battery supply chains and spiking PGM prices.

14%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 14% · 90% range 5–22% · 40 analogues · measured class growth 94% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — growth ≈1.8868/yr → 94% in 18 mo94%
Analyst prior · editorial share 13% of the class12%
Pooled · weight 87%14%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)14%
Published14%

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. Russia restricts palladium and nickel exports in a sanctions tit-for-tat, squeezing autocatalyst and battery supply chains and spiking PGM prices. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Geopolitical risk ▲ · Industrial demand ▲ · Oil supply 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▲ +5.1%
hist +0.37–+6.06% · other way -8.71% (n=11)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -2.0%
hist -1.19–-0.57% · other way +1.49% (n=11)
3Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.4%
hist -0.78–-0.13% · other way +2.08% (n=11)
4Brent crude BRENTon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +1.2%
hist -2.18–+1.35% · other way +1.92% (n=10)
5S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.1%
hist -1.05–-0.22% · other way +1.68% (n=12)
6WTI crude CLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +1.0%
hist -4.33–+1.5% · other way +7.4% (n=11)
7Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.9%
hist -1.39–+2.09% · other way -5.54% (n=8)
8Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.9%
hist -0.57–-0.33% · other way +1.9% (n=11)
9MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.9%
hist -1.69–+3.33% · other way +18.41% (n=11)
10Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.7%
model prior · unmeasured
11Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.6%
hist -4.48–+1.22% · other way +4.65% (n=8)
12Energy sector XLEon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.7%
hist -1.91–+0.79% · other way +1.44% (n=11)
13Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.7%
hist -1.45–+0.23% · other way +8.05% (n=11)
14Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.5%
hist -4.69–+1.48% · other way +11.75% (n=8)

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 -1.4% · High-yield credit -0.6% · United Airlines -0.6% · ExxonMobil +0.5% · Chevron +0.5% · Delta -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.

Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 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 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 1979-12 1979 Iranian Revolution oil shock 1979-01 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 April 2024 Iranian drone-and-missile barrage on Israel 2024-04 Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russian refineries, lifting crude and gasoline 2024-03 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 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 Tin hits nominal record on LME above $48,000/t 2022-03 Burkina Faso coup d'etat 2022-01 Houthi drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi oil sites lifts Brent to 7-year high 2022-01 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 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 Gold futures velocity-logic flash crash 2014-01 Gold all-time peak of $1,921/oz 2011-09 Libya civil war halts output and lifts Brent above $100 2011-02 Crude oil all-time high 2008-07 2006 Lebanon War oil spike 2006-07 Iraq invasion 2003 relief rally 2003-03
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+3.4% · 5d +2.8%67%35 0.30✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.1% · 5d -0.7%70%36 0.30✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-1.7% · 5d -1.1%67%34 0.29⚠ differs
XLE XLESHORT-2.0% · 5d -1.1%64%34 0.28⚠ differs
CL CLSHORT-4.2% · 5d -2.6%66%34 0.27⚠ differs
INTC INTCSHORT-2.9% · 5d -1.8%63%36 0.23✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLSHORT-0.2% · 5d -2.8%64%34 0.22✓ matches cascade
COIN COINLONG+5.7% · 5d +0.7%62%17 0.21⚠ differs
BRENT BRENTSHORT-2.6% · 5d -1.4%60%32 0.17⚠ differs
ETH ETHSHORT-3.8% · 5d -4.2%62%24 0.17✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.6% · 5d -0.2%61%32 0.17✓ matches cascade
FCX FCXSHORT-3.2% · 5d -2.7%61%34 0.17⚠ differs
LMT LMTLONG+2.6% · 5d +0.3%60%40 0.17✓ matches cascade
XLK XLKLONG+0.3% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades61%34 0.16⚠ differs

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.