⚔ Geopolitics risk-off · 1–3 years
A what‑if from the future

What if a broad US-China rupture spanning trade, tech, finance and Taiwan hits simultaneously?

A broad US–China rupture spanning trade, tech, finance and Taiwan triggers simultaneous tariff, sanctions and capital-flow shocks, the compound great-power tail in IMF/ECB exercises.

11%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 11% · 90% range 3–19% · 40 analogues · measured class trade_war 98% in 3 yr · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — trade_war ≈1.3449/yr → 98% in 3 yr98%
Analyst prior · editorial share 10% of the class10%
Pooled · weight 87%12%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)12%
Published11%

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 broad US–China rupture spanning trade, tech, finance and Taiwan triggers simultaneous tariff, sanctions and capital-flow shocks, the compound great-power tail in IMF/ECB exercises. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Credit spreads ▲ · Geopolitical risk ▲ · Recession signal ▲ · 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▲ +11.3%
hist +2.66–+10.21% · other way -3.55% (n=12)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -7.1%
hist -4.41–-2.19% · other way +0.4% (n=12)
3Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -4.8%
hist -2.94–-1.21% · other way +0.42% (n=12)
4Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -4.3%
hist -2.5–-0.14% · other way +3.07% (n=12)
5MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.8%
hist -2.59–-0.94% · other way +25.41% (n=12)
6Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.4%
hist -2.44–-0.46% · other way +3.1% (n=12)
7S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -3.0%
hist -2.4–-0.87% · other way -0.7% (n=12)
8Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -3.0%
hist -5.92–+1.07% · other way -3.1% (n=11)
9TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.1%
hist -1.87–-0.82% · other way +3.31% (n=12)
10AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -2.39–+0.44% · other way +0.74% (n=12)
11Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -1.77–+2.02% · other way +3.0% (n=12)
12Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -2.05–+0.09% · other way +4.09% (n=12)
13Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -2.14–-0.49% · other way +2.51% (n=12)
14Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -2.3%
model prior · unmeasured

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 -4.8% · High-yield credit -2.0% · Financials -1.6% · Chinese yuan -1.2% · JPMorgan -1.1% · Aussie dollar -0.9%

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 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 Greece first EU/IMF bailout 2010-05 Northern Rock bank run 2007-09 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 First Republic Bank seized and sold to JPMorgan 2023-05 Regional-bank panic deepens after Signature seizure 2023-03 Kaisa Group offshore default 2021-12 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 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 China-led global 'Black Monday' rout 2015-08 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 HYG record outflows in 2014 high-yield rout 2014-10 Mt. Gox collapse 2014-02 Mt. Gox halts withdrawals 2014-02 Cyprus deposit bail-in 2013-03 Spain requests EUR100bn bank bailout 2012-06 Bankia nationalised in Spain's banking crisis 2012-05 Portugal requests EU-IMF bailout 2011-04 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Greece requests EU/IMF bailout 2010-04 Anglo Irish Bank nationalisation 2009-01 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship 2008-09 IndyMac Bank seized by the Office of Thrift Supervision 2008-07 American Home Mortgage bankruptcy 2007-08 Bear Stearns freezes redemptions on subprime hedge funds 2007-06 New Century Financial bankruptcy 2007-04
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
COIN COINLONG+12.1% · 5d +7.7%82%10 0.51⚠ differs
ETH ETHSHORT-6.2% · 5d -7.1%70%17 0.32✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-1.9% · 5d -1.1%68%39 0.31✓ matches cascade
MRVL MRVLSHORT-0.8% · 5d -2.2%67%39 0.27✓ matches cascade
AVGO AVGOLONG+3.0% · 5d -1.1% ↺ fades63%32 0.25⚠ differs
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.5% · 5d -0.2%65%38 0.23✓ matches cascade
RTX RTXSHORT-1.7% · 5d -1.3%64%39 0.22⚠ differs
AUD AUDSHORT-0.9% · 5d -0.1%62%39 0.21✓ matches cascade
TRY TRYSHORT-0.4% · 5d +0.8% ↺ fades63%39 0.20✓ matches cascade
CL CLSHORT-2.8% · 5d -1.9%63%39 0.20✓ matches cascade
10y yield DGS10LONG+2bp · 5d +5bp62%39 0.19·
XLF XLFSHORT-0.4% · 5d -0.9%59%39 0.16✓ matches cascade
SMH SMHLONG+1.3% · 5d -0.3% ↺ fades59%39 0.15⚠ differs
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-4.2% · 5d -4.1%59%23 0.15✓ 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.