Pop Report: PSA Hits New Record for Weekly Volume

PSA grading volume increased 13% as PSA put up a new record high for weekly volume at 191,000 — narrowly edging out the previous high of 189,000.

Read this week’s Pop Report with GemRate for the latest news and notes on PSA’s graded population.

Overall Trends (9/13-9/19)

The main five sports tracked below overall activity as TCG/Pokemon saw a massive 53% spike in activity week-over-week (up to 48k cards graded from 31k).

From a category perspective:

• Basketball, baseball and football all increased with football seeing the biggest jump in activity
• Soccer and hockey both saw modest single digit declines in activity

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

26 – Basketball

14 – Baseball

5 – Football

5 – TCG

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, Tyler Herro, RJ Barrett
• DOWN: Zion Williamson, Kobe Bryant, Trae Young
• OUT OF TOP 10: Shaquille O’Neal

Baseball

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Luis Robert, Fernando Tatis Jr., Gavin Lux, Yordan Alvarez, Jasson Dominguez, Robert Puason
• DOWN: Mike Trout, Ken Griffey Jr.
• OUT OF TOP 10: Ronald Acuna Jr, Juan Soto

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Jordan Love
• DOWN: Tom Brady, Kyler Murray
• OUT OF TOP 10: Brett Favre

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Christian Pulisic, Mason Greenwood, Robert Lewandowski
• DOWN: Kylian Mbappe, Jadon Sancho, Giovanni Reyna 
• OUT OF TOP 10: Ansu Fati

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:  Wayne Gretzky, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Alexis Lafreniere, Mario Lemieux, Quinn Hughes, Joe Sakic, Jack Hughes 
• DOWN: Jaromir Jagr, Brayden Point
• OUT: Mats Sundin, Rob Blake, Kirill Kaprizov

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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