🛢 Energy & Commodities risk-off · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if South African PGM shaft closures deepen platinum deficit?

Loss-making deep-level shafts are mothballed amid weak prices and power costs, cutting future platinum and rhodium supply and setting up a sharp deficit.

31%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 31% · 90% range 6–56% · 40 analogues · measured class deflation 44% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — deflation ≈0.3895/yr → 44% in 18 mo44%
Analyst prior · editorial share 77% of the class34%
Pooled · weight 87%32%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)32%
Published31%

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. Loss-making deep-level shafts are mothballed amid weak prices and power costs, cutting future platinum and rhodium supply and setting up a sharp deficit. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Clean-energy abundance ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ · Industrial demand ▲ · 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▲ +1.9%
hist +0.23–+2.06% · other way -4.47% (n=7)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.7%
hist -0.44–-0.18% · other way -1.08% (n=7)
3S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.4%
hist -0.37–+0.45% · other way -2.1% (n=12)
4Energy sector XLEon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -1.87–+0.38% · other way -9.7% (n=6)
5Freeport (copper) FCX 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.3%
hist -2.29–+0.95% · other way -9.47% (n=6)
6Brent crude BRENTon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▼ -0.3%
hist -4.18–+0.89% · other way -11.7% (n=6)
7ExxonMobil XOM 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -1.39–+0.38% · other way -1.21% (n=12)
8WTI crude CLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▼ -0.3%
hist -3.96–+0.63% · other way -11.13% (n=6)
9MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -2.59–+7.98% · other way +1.44% (n=6)
10Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -0.35–+0.18% · other way +0.3% (n=6)
11Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -1.23–+0.36% · other way +8.48% (n=3)
12Gold XAUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.2%
hist -0.35–+1.38% · other way -3.63% (n=6)
13Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.2%
model prior · unmeasured
14Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -1.56–+2.93% · other way +3.96% (n=3)

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): Freeport (copper) +0.3% · ExxonMobil -0.3% · Tech sector -0.4% · United Airlines +0.2% · Delta +0.1%

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.

Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 Henry Hub natural gas hits a 25-year low amid record US production 2024-11 Waha hub natural gas prices crash to record negative on Permian glut 2024-08 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Gulf War air campaign begins 1991-01 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 Platinum hits an 11-year high on Chinese jewelry demand and deficit 2025-06 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Palladium jumps after US pushes G7 sanctions on Russian metal 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 record single-day rebound 2024-08 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 NIF achieves fusion ignition 2022-12 Tin hits nominal record on LME above $48,000/t 2022-03 Burkina Faso coup d'etat 2022-01 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 WTI crude futures settle negative as demand collapses 2020-04 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 China rout & circuit-breaker / yuan slide 2016-01 SNB introduces negative interest rates 2014-12 Russian ruble 'Black Tuesday' 2014-12 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 Silver hits 30-year high as JPMorgan and HSBC face manipulation suits 2010-10 Oil collapses from $147 to the $30s as the GFC craters demand 2008-12
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
CL CLSHORT-3.2% · 5d -2.5%71%34 0.37✓ matches cascade
BRENT BRENTSHORT-3.5% · 5d -2.8%67%34 0.30✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-2.1% · 5d -1.1%67%34 0.30⚠ differs
XLE XLESHORT-1.5% · 5d -0.8%64%34 0.27✓ matches cascade
MSTR MSTRLONG+7.3% · 5d -3.6% ↺ fades63%34 0.21⚠ differs
Gold XAULONG+1.2% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades61%34 0.20✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.0% · 5d -1.0%62%37 0.19✓ matches cascade
FCX FCXSHORT-2.3% · 5d -1.8%60%34 0.18⚠ differs
AVGO AVGOLONG+2.2% · 5d -1.7% ↺ fades59%33 0.16⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.1% · 5d -0.3%59%34 0.16·
XOM XOMSHORT-1.2% · 5d -0.5%57%39 0.14✓ matches cascade
SPX SPXLONG+0.6% · 5d +0.2%57%39 0.13⚠ differs
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-1.1% · 5d -3.6%58%29 0.13✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLLONG+2.5% · 5d -0.9% ↺ fades59%34 0.13⚠ 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.