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

What if US approves $5B Taiwan arms package; Beijing sanctions primes?

A large US Foreign Military Sales tranche to Taiwan prompts Chinese sanctions on US defense contractors and rare-earth export friction; defense names bid, trade tension and geopolitical risk rise.

23%
our model probability
over 0–6 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 23% · 90% range 6–41% · 40 analogues · measured class defense 46% in 6 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — defense ≈1.2155/yr → 46% in 6 mo46%
Analyst prior · editorial share 57% of the class26%
Pooled · weight 87%24%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)24%
Published23%

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. A large US Foreign Military Sales tranche to Taiwan prompts Chinese sanctions on US defense contractors and rare-earth export friction; defense names bid, trade tension and geopolitical risk rise. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Defense spending ▲ · Geopolitical 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▲ +5.9%
hist +-0.0–+8.03% · other way +3.23% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -3.4%
hist -2.21–-1.13% · other way -0.37% (n=12)
3Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.2%
hist -1.27–-0.72% · other way +2.23% (n=12)
4Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.4%
hist -1.41–-0.43% · other way -0.34% (n=12)
5Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.7%
hist -1.34–-0.35% · other way +4.75% (n=12)
6TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.5%
hist -1.23–-0.43% · other way +2.51% (n=12)
7S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -1.3%
hist -1.32–-0.22% · other way +0.57% (n=12)
8Lockheed LMT 📈 chartEquity▲ +1.3%
hist +0.17–+1.46% · other way -3.24% (n=12)
9AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -1.35–+0.68% · other way -0.48% (n=12)
10Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -1.25–+1.86% · other way +0.88% (n=12)
11Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -2.21–+0.19% · other way +2.73% (n=12)
12Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.3%
hist -3.12–+0.28% · other way +1.61% (n=12)
13Northrop NOC 📈 chartEquity▲ +1.2%
hist -0.11–+1.8% · other way -1.37% (n=12)
14ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -1.2%
hist -2.43–+0.38% · other way -1.68% (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 -2.4% · Lockheed +1.3% · Northrop +1.2% · Chinese yuan -0.7% · High-yield credit -0.7% · Financials -0.4%

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.

China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 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 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 Operation Sindoor: India strikes Pakistan after Pahalgam attack 2025-05 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 China fires ballistic missiles into Japan's EEZ during Taiwan drills 2022-08 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 India's Balakot airstrike inside Pakistan 2019-02 Pulwama attack ignites India-Pakistan crisis 2019-02 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 US List 3 tariffs on $200B of Chinese goods finalized 2018-09 Turkish lira crisis 2018-08 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 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2001-12 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 Kargil War begins 1999-05 Hong Kong HKMA market intervention against speculators 1998-08 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10 Thai baht float / start of the Asian financial crisis 1997-07 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis 1996-03 US-Japan auto trade war: 100% luxury-car tariff threat 1995-05 Black Wednesday / ERM crisis 1992-09 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia 1991-01 Tiananmen Square crackdown 1989-06 US-Japan Semiconductor Trade Arrangement signed 1986-09
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
COIN COINLONG+14.1% · 5d +7.8%85%11 0.55⚠ differs
TRY TRYSHORT-2.1% · 5d +0.4% ↺ fades79%26 0.49✓ matches cascade
CNY CNYSHORT-0.5% · 5d -0.2%69%28 0.37✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-4.7% · 5d -4.8%68%21 0.29✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLSHORT-2.2% · 5d -2.9%68%28 0.25✓ matches cascade
AUD AUDSHORT-1.1% · 5d -0.4%66%26 0.24✓ matches cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-1.8% · 5d -1.2%62%39 0.21✓ matches cascade
XLF XLFSHORT-0.2% · 5d -0.1%62%29 0.21✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-1.1% · 5d -0.8%63%28 0.21✓ matches cascade
AVGO AVGOLONG+2.3% · 5d -1.7% ↺ fades60%26 0.20⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.3%62%26 0.19✓ matches cascade
RTX RTXSHORT-2.3% · 5d -1.8%58%39 0.15⚠ differs
KWEB KWEBSHORT-0.8% · 5d -1.4%59%25 0.15✓ matches cascade
NVDA NVDASHORT-0.4% · 5d -3.7%59%29 0.13✓ 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.