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

What if Texas grid fails again in winter freeze (Uri redux)?

A severe Arctic outbreak knocks out ERCOT generation as in Winter Storm Uri, spiking power and gas prices, causing blackout deaths and large liability and insured losses.

13%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 13% · 90% range 4–22% · 32 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 12% of the class12%
Pooled · weight 84%14%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)14%
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 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. A severe Arctic outbreak knocks out ERCOT generation as in Winter Storm Uri, spiking power and gas prices, causing blackout deaths and large liability and insured losses. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Natural gas ▲ · Climate/crop supply ▲ · 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
1Natural gas NGon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.6%
hist -0.07–+0.91% · other way +8.67% (n=11)
2Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.5%
hist -5.86–+6.7% · other way +0.5% (n=10)
3Wheat WHEATon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.5%
hist -0.35–+0.36% · other way -0.49% (n=11)
4Corn CORNon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCommodity▲ +0.5%
hist -0.52–+3.19% · other way -1.39% (n=11)
5Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.4%
model prior · unmeasured
6MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -0.42–+0.25% · other way +24.45% (n=11)
7Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.4%
hist -2.91–+3.6% · other way +5.96% (n=10)
8Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.3%
hist -0.31–+0.49% · other way -0.09% (n=11)
9Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -0.18–+0.13% · other way +2.11% (n=11)
10Volatility (VIX) VIXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartVol▲ +0.3%
hist -1.26–+3.6% · other way -3.27% (n=11)
11Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -3.91–+4.93% · other way +5.98% (n=10)
12Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -0.27–+0.34% · other way -0.19% (n=11)
13Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.2%
hist -2.47–+1.13% · other way +2.35% (n=11)
14S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.1%
hist -0.25–+0.45% · other way -1.85% (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 cash hedge.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Tech sector -0.2%

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 32 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.

Chernobyl disaster 1986-04 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 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 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 PJM grid emergency during Winter Storm Elliott 2022-12 Texas grid failure during Winter Storm Uri 2021-02 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Norilsk Nickel Arctic diesel spill 2020-05 WTI crude futures settle negative as demand collapses 2020-04 IPBES warns ~1 million species face extinction 2019-05 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Gold futures velocity-logic flash crash 2014-01 Gold all-time peak of $1,921/oz 2011-09 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Oil collapses from $147 to the $30s as the GFC craters demand 2008-12 Henry Hub natural gas spot price peaks during 2008 commodity boom 2008-07 2008 global rice / food price crisis peak 2008-04 2008 global rice crisis: Thai benchmark tops $1,000/ton 2008-04 Platinum hits all-time record near $2,290 on South African power crisis 2008-03 South Africa Eskom power emergency spikes platinum/PGMs 2008-01 Amaranth Advisors natural-gas blowup 2006-09 Northeast blackout cascading grid failure hits ~55 million 2003-08 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Silver Thursday 1980-03 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Three Mile Island partial meltdown 1979-03 1979 Iranian Revolution oil shock 1979-01
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
CORN CORNLONG+2.6% · 5d -0.5% ↺ fades68%25 0.35✓ matches cascade
WHEAT WHEATSHORT-0.6% · 5d -1.9%60%25 0.19⚠ differs
NDX NDXLONG+0.6% · 5d -0.8% ↺ fades62%27 0.19⚠ differs
SMH SMHLONG+0.2% · 5d -0.4% ↺ fades60%25 0.17⚠ differs
ETH ETHLONG+4.1% · 5d -1.8% ↺ fades58%12 0.13⚠ differs
SPX SPXLONG+0.5% · 5d +0.3%58%32 0.13⚠ differs
Volatility VIXLONG+3.2% · 5d -0.7% ↺ fades58%26 0.12✓ matches cascade
Gold XAULONG+0.1% · 5d -0.3% ↺ fades56%25 0.12·
XLK XLKLONG+0.4% · 5d -0.7% ↺ fades56%25 0.10⚠ differs
SOL SOLLONG+7.6% · 5d -5.7% ↺ fades55%11 0.07⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGLONG+0.6% · 5d -0.1% ↺ fades52%23 0.04·
MSTR MSTRLONG+0.5% · 5d -3.4% ↺ fades52%25 0.03⚠ differs
NG NGLONG+0.6% · 5d -2.3% ↺ fades48%25 0.00✓ matches cascade
Bitcoin BTCLONG+5.4% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades43%14 0.00⚠ 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.