Pop Report: PSA’s Weekly Volume Up 40% From Early August

In this week’s Pop Report from GemRate, PSA continues to ramp up its grading volume week-over-week. Driven by growth from four of the five major sports, PSA has seen a major increase in volume compared to a month ago.

Overall Trends (8/30-9/5)

Grading volume by PSA was 185,387 items – which is an increase of 11% compared to the prior week. Weekly volume for PSA is up 40% from early August and has increased four of the last five weeks.

The main five sports noted below roughly tracked the overall activity with a 10% increase collectively.

From a category perspective:

• Basketball increased 13% while baseball and football trailed overall growth at 8% and 6%, respectively.
• Soccer was up 18% while hockey declined by 8% compared to last week.

The mix of the top 50 players (and characters) graded during the period were as follows:

25 – Basketball

12 – Baseball

7 – Football

4 – TCG

1 – Soccer

1 – Misc (Serena Williams)

Below you’ll find a list of the top players graded for each category. 

An important consideration is what to make of this list. In the current situation where fears of junk slabs dominate the hobby, ranking high on this list likely is negatively correlated with price as that signals a meaningful number of slabs could move into the market in the near future. However, under normal circumstances, it could potentially be a leading indicator of positive price correlation as the list more accurately represents forward looking activity (i.e. bets being placed on players) and price potential.

Basketball

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Coby White, RJ Barrett
• DOWN: Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, Trae Young
• JUST MISSED: Giannis, Shaq

Baseball

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Bo Bichette, Jasson Dominguez
• DOWN: Kyle Lewis, Ronald Acuna Jr.
• OUT OF TOP 10: Juan Soto

FOOTBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Barry Sanders, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts 
• DOWN: Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen
• OUT OF TOP 10: Clyde Edwards-Helaire

SOCCER

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Giovanni Reyna, Erling Haaland, Christian Pulisic, Neymar Jr., Ansu Fati, Marcus Rashford
• DOWN: Kylian Mbappe, Mason Greenwood
• OUT OF TOP 10: Serge Gnabry, Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

HOCKEY

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Alexis Lafreniere, Quinn Hughes, Sebastian Aho, Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Gordie Howe, Cale Makar, Jack Hughes
• DOWN: Jack Hughes
• OUT: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Manon Rheaume, Kirby Dach, Steve Yzerman

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

Data in the Sports Card Investor Pop Report series is provided by GemRate. Follow GemRate on Instagram and Twitter for more on the latest cards graded by PSA.

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