⚔ Geopolitics risk-off · 0–6 months
A what‑if from the future

What if conflict in the Strait of Malacca chokes 25% of world traded goods?

Conflict or incident in the Strait of Malacca chokes ~25% of world traded goods and a quarter of seaborne oil, forcing long detours and a sharp East-Asia supply shock.

8%
our model probability
over 0–6 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 8% · 90% range 0–17% · 40 analogues · measured class trade_war 49% in 6 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — trade_war ≈1.3449/yr → 49% in 6 mo49%
Analyst prior · editorial share 16% of the class8%
Pooled · weight 87%8%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)8%
Published8%

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 0–6 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. Conflict or incident in the Strait of Malacca chokes ~25% of world traded goods and a quarter of seaborne oil, forcing long detours and a sharp East-Asia supply shock. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Geopolitical risk ▲ · Oil supply risk ▲ · Risk appetite ▼ · Trade tension ▲ — 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▲ +9.4%
hist +2.03–+7.91% · other way -0.36% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -5.8%
hist -3.07–-1.46% · other way -0.34% (n=12)
3Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -4.2%
hist -2.45–-1.42% · other way -0.15% (n=12)
4Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.5%
hist -2.3–-0.99% · other way +1.95% (n=12)
5Brent crude BRENTon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +3.0%
hist +0.31–+2.0% · other way -3.03% (n=12)
6MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.9%
hist -2.8–+1.17% · other way +31.53% (n=12)
7Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -2.95–-0.29% · other way +3.19% (n=12)
8S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -2.4%
hist -1.58–-0.86% · other way +1.22% (n=12)
9TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.6%
hist -2.92–-0.25% · other way +2.98% (n=12)
10WTI crude CLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +2.3%
hist -2.89–+1.84% · other way -2.56% (n=12)
11AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.3%
hist -1.78–-0.42% · other way -0.61% (n=12)
12Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.3%
hist -1.61–-0.03% · other way +0.91% (n=12)
13Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.3%
hist -3.44–+0.1% · other way +2.93% (n=12)
14Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.3%
hist -3.15–-0.06% · other way +2.66% (n=12)

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 -4.2% · High-yield credit -1.1% · Chinese yuan -1.0% · United Airlines -1.5% · ExxonMobil +1.2% · Chevron +1.1%

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.

Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 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 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 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 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 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 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 Houthi drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi oil sites lifts Brent to 7-year high 2022-01 Abqaiq-Khurais strike triggers the biggest Brent spike on record 2019-09 Houthi drones strike Saudi East-West crude pipeline 2019-05 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 US List 3 tariffs on $200B of Chinese goods finalized 2018-09 US Section 301 List 1 tariffs take effect on China 2018-07 China retaliates: $50B tariff list incl. soybeans 2018-04 US Section 232 steel & aluminum tariffs imposed 2018-03 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Mexican peso crash on Trump 2016 win 2016-11 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 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 US-Japan auto trade war: 100% luxury-car tariff threat 1995-05 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Operation Desert Storm begins 1991-01
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
HOOD HOODLONG+8.8% · 5d +0.7%75%14 0.43⚠ differs
COIN COINLONG+10.4% · 5d +3.7%75%14 0.42⚠ differs
CNY CNYSHORT-0.7% · 5d -0.1%68%32 0.34✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-0.8% · 5d -0.4%68%32 0.29✓ matches cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-3.1% · 5d -1.5%65%38 0.27✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLSHORT-1.9% · 5d -3.1%68%32 0.26✓ matches cascade
AMD AMDSHORT-0.7% · 5d -0.8%65%38 0.25✓ matches cascade
BABA BABASHORT-2.3% · 5d -2.5%64%27 0.25✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-3.4% · 5d -4.7%65%23 0.24✓ matches cascade
NDX NDXSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.9%65%38 0.23✓ matches cascade
NVDA NVDASHORT-1.5% · 5d -4.1%64%33 0.23✓ matches cascade
CL CLSHORT-3.6% · 5d -2.4%63%32 0.23⚠ differs
SOL SOLLONG+0.1% · 5d -7.0% ↺ fades66%14 0.19⚠ differs
LMT LMTLONG+2.5% · 5d +0.5%62%39 0.19✓ 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.