🛢 Energy & Commodities risk-off · 1–3 years
A what‑if from the future

What if South African rail-and-port failure throttles PGM and coal exports?

Chronic Transnet rail and port dysfunction strands South African platinum, chrome and coal at the mine gate, tightening seaborne PGM supply.

17%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 17% · 90% range 8–26% · 40 analogues · measured class energy 99% in 3 yr · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — energy ≈1.4869/yr → 99% in 3 yr99%
Analyst prior · editorial share 17% of the class17%
Pooled · weight 87%18%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)18%
Published17%

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 1–3 years 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. Chronic Transnet rail and port dysfunction strands South African platinum, chrome and coal at the mine gate, tightening seaborne PGM supply. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — European energy ▲ · 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▲ +2.5%
hist -0.26–+5.34% · other way -10.39% (n=11)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.9%
hist -0.81–-0.17% · other way +1.42% (n=11)
3S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.5%
hist -0.47–-0.14% · other way +0.43% (n=12)
4Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.6%
hist -0.36–-0.05% · other way +1.9% (n=11)
5MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -1.56–+3.13% · other way +20.17% (n=11)
6Freeport (copper) FCX 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.3%
hist +0.12–+0.22% · other way +7.97% (n=11)
7Gold XAUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.3%
hist +0.03–+0.34% · other way +0.53% (n=11)
8Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -2.55–+0.7% · other way +10.48% (n=8)
9Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.2%
model prior · unmeasured
10Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -0.31–-0.08% · other way +1.45% (n=11)
11Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -3.07–+7.46% · other way -1.59% (n=8)
12Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -2.56–+0.98% · other way +6.04% (n=8)
13Coinbase COINon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -2.29–+6.71% · other way +27.55% (n=7)
14Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -1.35–+0.41% · other way +6.4% (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 -0.6% · Freeport (copper) +0.3% · Lockheed +0.2% · Northrop +0.2% · High-yield credit -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.

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 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 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 Gabon coup d'etat 2023-08 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 ExxonMobil posts most profitable year for any US oil company 2023-01 PJM grid emergency during Winter Storm Elliott 2022-12 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 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 Texas grid failure during Winter Storm Uri 2021-02 Myanmar military coup 2021-02 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Norilsk Nickel Arctic diesel spill 2020-05 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
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+3.7% · 5d +1.9%70%35 0.34✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-1.3% · 5d -1.5%66%36 0.25✓ matches cascade
10y yield DGS10LONG+15bp · 5d +8bp61%40 0.22·
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-2.2% · 5d -3.7%62%33 0.20✓ matches cascade
COIN COINLONG+6.2% · 5d +0.3%61%20 0.19⚠ differs
MRVL MRVLSHORT-0.9% · 5d -2.8%62%34 0.18✓ matches cascade
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.6% · 5d -0.2%60%34 0.15✓ matches cascade
NDX NDXSHORT-0.3% · 5d -1.1%59%36 0.14✓ matches cascade
TSM TSMSHORT-1.6% · 5d -2.9%58%34 0.14✓ matches cascade
SOL SOLLONG+7.1% · 5d -4.8% ↺ fades57%25 0.11⚠ differs
QCOM QCOMSHORT-2.4% · 5d -2.9%57%34 0.10✓ matches cascade
MSTR MSTRLONG+3.2% · 5d -3.4% ↺ fades56%34 0.09⚠ differs
NVDA NVDASHORT-1.1% · 5d -4.8%56%34 0.09✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-2.3% · 5d -3.1%55%30 0.08✓ 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.