Pop Report: Basketball Reclaims PSA’s Top Spot Amid 20% Volume Spike

After a slow start to October that saw its lowest output since early August, PSA picked up the pace last week with a 20% increase. Basketball also reclaimed the top spot for most-graded category, ending a three-week run for TCG.

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

From a category perspective:

• All the main sports saw large increases last week, with the exception of hockey.

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

20 – Basketball

15 – Baseball

9 – Football

6 – 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: Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Coby White, Trae Young
• DOWN: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal
• OUT OF TOP 10: Giannis Antetokounmpo

BASEBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Fernando Tatis Jr., Bo Bichette, Kyle Lewis, Randy Arozarena, Yordan Alvarez
• DOWN: Mike Trout, Derek Jeter
• OUT: Shohei Ohtani

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Joe Burrow,  Patrick Mahomes II, Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers
• DOWN: Tom Brady, Russell Wilson
• OUT:  Barry Sanders, Bill Belichick, Walter Payton 

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Kevin de Bruyne, Jadon Sancho, Kai Havertz, Neymar Jr.
• DOWN: Lionel Messi
• OUT: Pele, Paul Pogba, Vinicius Junior, Pedri

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:  Connor McDavid, Alexander Ovechkin, Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist, Jack Eichel, Charlie McAvoy, Steve Yzerman
• DOWN: Sidney Crosby, Joe Sakic, Pavel Bure 
• OUT: Jaromir Jagr, Auston Matthews, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure

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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