Pop Report: PSA Grading Volume Jumps 52% Following Holiday

PSA graded 182,798 cards last week for a 52% increase over the shortened holiday week.

Read this week’s Pop Report for a breakdown on the latest grading trends from PSA.

From a category perspective:

• All categories with the exception of soccer saw increases in activity – which is no surprise. It is, however, somewhat surprising to see that the largest categories were the ones that increased the most. A quick note – soccer growth looks like it was impacted by some set re-categorizations at PSA.

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

22 – Basketball

12 – Baseball

8 – Football

8 – 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, RJ Barrett, Trae Young
• DOWN: Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Coby White
• OUT: Shaquille O’Neal

BASEBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP:  Fernando Tatis Jr., Kyle Lewis, Mike Trout, Gavin Lux
• DOWN: Randy Arozarena, Yordan Alvarez, Ken Grifffey Jr. 

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP:  Patrick Mahomes II, Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson 
• DOWN: Joe Burrow, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Jordan Love
• OUT: Baker Mayfield, Ceedee Lamb

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Kylian Mbappe, Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham, Neymar Jr., David Beckham
• DOWN: Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Christian Pulisic, Ansu Fati
• OUT: Alphonso Davies, Kai Havertz, Vinicius Junior 

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: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Alexis Lafreniere, Alexander Ovechkin, Chris Chelios, Steve Yzerman, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Roy, Kirby Dach
• OUT: Ray Borque, Brett Hull, Peter Statsny, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar

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.

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