Pop Report: PSA Grading Volume Continues to Peak Behind Hockey Surge

For the second week in a row, PSA’s weekly grading volume has hit a new record — this time with a surge in hockey providing a big boost.

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

Overall trends (9/20 – 9/26):

PSA grading volume increased 1% and reached 195,000 – establishing a new peak for weekly volume.

The main five sports outpaced overall activity and were up 15% compared to last week. TCG has been particularly volatile of late (volume was 33,000 last week compared to 48,000 and 31,000 the prior two weeks).

From a category perspective:

• All the major sports increased; however, hockey saw a huge surge in ultra-modern cards grading during the period.

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

23 – Basketball

14 – Baseball

7 – Football

3 – TCG

2 – Soccer

1 – Hockey

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, Trae Young
• DOWN: Ja Morant, RJ Barrett

BASEBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Bo Bichette, Kyle Lewis, Yordan Alvarez, Ronald Acuna Jr., Juan Soto
• DOWN: Fernando Tatis Jr., Ken Griffey Jr.
• OUT OF TOP 10: Jasson Dominguez, Robert Puason

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
• DOWN: Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts
• OUT OF TOP 10: Jordan Love

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Cristiano Ronaldo, Jude Bellingham, Mason Greenwood, Neymar Jr., Youssoufa Moukoko
• DOWN: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Christian Pulisic, Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho, 
• OUT OF TOP 10: Robert Lewandowski, Giovanni Reyna, David Beckham

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: Jaromir Jagr, Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby
• DOWN: Cale Makar, Alexis Lafreniere, Quinn Hughes, Mario Lemieux
• OUT: Brayden Point, Joe Sakic 

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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