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

What if successive escalation drives bilateral US-China goods trade toward near-zero?

Successive escalation drives bilateral US–China goods trade toward a fraction of its peak, a hard-decoupling tail beyond the EBA 2025 adverse round with severe supply-chain repricing.

13%
our model probability
over 1–3 years
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 13% · 90% range 4–21% · 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 12% of the class12%
Pooled · weight 87%13%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)13%
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. Successive escalation drives bilateral US–China goods trade toward a fraction of its peak, a hard-decoupling tail beyond the EBA 2025 adverse round with severe supply-chain repricing. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Geopolitical risk ▲ · Industrial demand ▼ · 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▲ +8.0%
hist +1.23–+7.81% · other way -0.14% (n=11)
2Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -5.9%
hist -3.73–-1.89% · other way -0.16% (n=11)
3Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -4.0%
hist -2.57–-1.12% · other way +3.27% (n=11)
4Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -4.1%
hist -2.14–-0.72% · other way -0.02% (n=11)
5Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.3%
hist -2.24–-0.43% · other way +6.07% (n=11)
6TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -3.0%
hist -2.94–-0.56% · other way +2.87% (n=11)
7MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.8%
hist -1.86–-0.01% · other way +30.92% (n=11)
8Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -2.4%
hist -2.13–+0.22% · other way -3.28% (n=10)
9AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.6%
hist -1.82–-0.54% · other way +0.39% (n=11)
10Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.6%
hist -1.86–+1.3% · other way +2.35% (n=11)
11Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.6%
hist -1.74–-0.44% · other way +0.15% (n=11)
12Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.6%
hist -1.83–-0.85% · other way +3.52% (n=11)
13ASML ASMLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -2.4%
hist -3.4–+0.07% · other way -1.77% (n=11)
14S&P 500 SPXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -2.1%
hist -1.6–-0.63% · other way -0.37% (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 -4.1% · Chinese yuan -1.3% · High-yield credit -1.3% · Financials -1.1% · Freeport (copper) -1.0% · 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.

Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 Trump's 50% copper tariff sends Comex copper to a record 2025-07 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 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 India slashes gold import duty from 15% to 6% in 2024 budget 2024-07 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 Tin hits nominal record on LME above $48,000/t 2022-03 Burkina Faso coup d'etat 2022-01 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 WTI crude futures settle negative as demand collapses 2020-04 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 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 Gold futures velocity-logic flash crash 2014-01 Gold all-time peak of $1,921/oz 2011-09 Greek sovereign debt crisis / first EU-IMF bailout 2010-05 Oil collapses from $147 to the $30s as the GFC craters demand 2008-12 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
TRY TRYSHORT-1.2% · 5d +0.5% ↺ fades72%34 0.33✓ matches cascade
XCU XCUSHORT-2.0% · 5d -0.7%69%35 0.31✓ matches cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-2.6% · 5d -1.6%62%37 0.21✓ matches cascade
XLF XLFSHORT-0.6% · 5d -0.1%62%35 0.21✓ matches cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-2.8% · 5d -5.8%62%24 0.19✓ matches cascade
XPT XPTSHORT-1.3% · 5d -1.1%61%35 0.19✓ matches cascade
XLK XLKLONG+0.6% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades61%35 0.17⚠ differs
AVGO AVGOLONG+2.3% · 5d -1.9% ↺ fades59%33 0.16⚠ differs
CNY CNYSHORT-0.3% · 5d -0.1%58%35 0.16✓ matches cascade
JPM JPMSHORT-1.0% · 5d -0.5%60%37 0.16✓ matches cascade
CL CLSHORT-1.3% · 5d -1.9%58%35 0.15✓ matches cascade
RTX RTXSHORT-1.4% · 5d -1.3%57%39 0.13⚠ differs
FCX FCXSHORT-2.5% · 5d -0.6%57%36 0.12✓ matches cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+3.2% · 5d +2.4%56%37 0.11✓ 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.