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Trading card market hit record highs (again) in April: Cooper Flagg and Pokémon drive sales

by sports••0
Trading card market hit record highs (again) in April: Cooper Flagg and Pokémon drive sales

A pair of seven-figure private sales and a new all-time high for grading activity highlighted another sweltering month for the trading card market in April. Sales tracker Card Ladder recorded more than $616 million in online secondary market sales for the industry, marking the highest single month recorded by the tool during its current era of reporting, which began in 2024. April’s total is the fourth consecutive record month recorded by Card Ladder, which attempts to capture the industry’s online secondary market (meaning it does not include online retail sales or transactions at card shops/shows unless reported and verified) by pulling data from a variety of popular marketplaces and auction houses.

Trading card grading also reached an all-time high in April with more than 3.1 million cards graded by third-party authenticators, according to tracker GemRate. Both industry leader PSA (2.21 million) and CGC Cards (690k) set records for a single month, though Pokémon and other trading card games accounted for more than two million of that total.

Top sports card sales in April

  1. 1997 Metal Universe Kobe Bryant Precious Metal Gems Green /10, PSA 5: $3.15 million
  2. 2017 Topps Dynasty Aaron Judge Logoman Autograph, BGS 9.5/AUTO 10: $1.95 million
  3. 2000 Upper Deck Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant Jersey Combo Autograph /10, PSA 6/AUTO 9:  $869,250
  4. 1910 T210 Old Mill Cigarettes Series 8 Joe Jackson, SGC 3: $687,500
  5. 2009-10 Panini National Treasures Stephen Curry RPA /99, PSA 10: $622,000

Source: Card Ladder (April 1 to April 30)

The most notable sale in April was a 1997 Metal Universe Kobe Bryant Precious Metal Gems card, which was purchased by trading card marketplace Alt in a private deal. The highest known sale for a card featuring only Bryant, the transaction was made for the company’s investment fund, according to Alt investor and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Among the most coveted ultra high-end cards issued during the 1990s, Precious Metal Gems were serial-numbered to just 100 copies, with the first 10 cards in the print run being the rarest Green variation and the final 90 being a Red variation. In addition to being highly sought after for their visual appeal and scarcity, PMGs are difficult to find in high grades due to condition issues, like chipping on the card’s delicate foil finish.

Though it wasn’t the most expensive transaction from April, a significant moment for the Formula 1 market arrived with the $201,910 paid for a 2025 Topps Dynasty Kimi Antonelli Rookie Patch Autograph 1/1 at Goldin. The result is a record for an Antonelli card and the first F1 sale logged by Card Ladder to top $200,000 since 2023. The Formula 1 market saw explosive growth from 2020 through 2021 alongside the popularity of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series, but has since cooled. Antonelli has won three of the four races so far in 2026 and currently leads F1’s Driver Standings.

Best-selling athletes in April: Jaxson Dart enters the mix

  1. Michael Jordan (34.4k)
  2. Cooper Flagg (27.7k)
  3. Victor Wembanyama (25.3k)
  4. Jaxson Dart (17.5k)
  5. Shohei Ohtani (17.4k)

Source: Market Movers

This list has mostly been dominated by current and former basketball stars in recent months, but New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart has made his way in behind interest in the hobby’s hottest new product. Topps regained exclusive rights to make licensed NFL cards on April 1, and Dart has been by far the most popular player from the company’s first set. Card pricing tracker Market Movers has logged more than 5,400 sales for Dart from 2025 Topps Chrome Football so far, which easily outpaces 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward’s roughly 3,700.

Notable rises in value: Collectors plan for retirement

  1. Michael Jordan (+7.7 percent)
  2. LeBron James (+5.4 percent)
  3. Kobe Bryant (+4.2 percent)
  4. Ken Griffey Jr. (+3.2 percent)
  5. Shohei Ohtani (+3.0 percent)

Source: Market Movers (minimum 5,000 sales)

LeBron James hasn’t announced his plans beyond his current deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, but his career is undoubtedly winding down. Regardless of any potential timeline, collectors may already be positioning for his retirement by picking up his key rookies cards with (relative) volume. Of James’ cards tracked by Market Movers, two of his four most popular PSA 10 examples over the last month are his 2003 Topps and 2003 Topps Chrome rookie cards. Both cards are up in price by more than 30 percent over the last 30 days with at least 30 total sales apiece. That 2003 Topps PSA 10 has averaged about $4,500 over that timeframe while the 2003 Topps Chrome has trended closer to $10,300.

Going down: Weak draft, weaker collection

  1. Jaxson Dart (-30.1 percent)
  2. Cam Ward (-26.4 percent)
  3. Travis Hunter (-24.3 percent)
  4. Kon Knueppel (-24.0 percent)
  5. Shedeur Sanders (-23.1 percent)

Source: Market Movers (minimum 5,000 sales)

The 2025 NFL Draft was considered weak by analysts and it hasn’t exactly disproven that projection after one season. Collectors, who demand a mix of production and popularity to buy in, might already be punting on the class to focus on the 2026 group, or other sports entirely. There’s typically an offseason lull with most players, so drops in price or sales volume aren’t abnormal this time of year for NFL players. Dart’s dip is easier to pallet because price drops can often still appear alongside high sales volume, signifying a correction from the initial heights of frenzied hype rather than a collapse of interest, but it’s hard to make the same argument for Ward, Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders.

Ward’s market is worth monitoring closely as we see the Titans continue to rebuild, but collectors in the meantime may not view him as a prospect worth waiting for. Hunter’s stock among hobbyists took a hit following news he’ll likely spend most of his time at corner rather than receiver — outside of a few exceptions, defenders aren’t typically popular among card collectors and this ends any hopes of him being the “Ohtani of football” that some positioned him as. Sanders has the name recognition to be collectible, but players who are backups on bad teams don’t usually resonate with hobbyists.

Best-selling cards: Flagg, Knueppel remain on top

  1. 2025 Topps Cooper Flagg Base #201 (2.6k)
  2. 2025 Topps Chrome Cooper Flagg Base #251 (1.9k)
  3. 2025 Topps Kon Knueppel Base #204 (1.3k)
  4. 2025 Topps Chrome Kon Knueppel Base #254 (1.2k)
  5. 2025 Topps Chrome Jaxson Dart Base #306 (1.2k)

Source: Market Movers

Collectors aren’t seeing Cooper Flagg or Kon Knueppel in the playoffs, but that doesn’t really matter when they are focused on the long-term outlook. Flagg won Rookie of the Year over his former Duke teammate, so he’ll be among the award winners wearing gold NBA logo patches throughout the 2026-27 season — those patches will later be placed into high-end trading cards. For now, collectors are focused more on the pair’s more achievable cards. Ungraded, raw copies of Flagg’s primary rookie cards currently check in around $6 (Topps) and $22 (Topps Chrome) with Knueppel even cheaper at $3 (Topps) and $7 (Topps Chrome). If you’re looking for affordable flagship rookies for either, these copies are the ones to get. Just know that with high print-run base cards like these, monetary value shouldn’t be the primary interest.

Grading recap: Grading activity hits record high in April

  1. PSA (2.21M total cards, 690k sports cards)
  2. CGC (690k total cards, 85k sports cards)
  3. BGS (97k total cards, 29k sports cards)
  4. SGC (50k total cards, 47k sports cards)
  5. TAG (47k total cards, 3k sports cards)

Source: GemRate (April 1 to April 30)

Card grading eclipsed three million total items for the first time in April en route to a record high for a single month. PSA led all graders with more than 2.2 million cards, including more than 690,000 sports cards. According to GemRate, baseball (237k) outpaced both basketball (206k) and football (161k) at PSA. As noted above, TCG and non-sports cards, particularly Pokémon, continue to outpace sports cards as that market experiences a resurgence in recent years. TAG, the AI-powered grader, continues to increase output, but recently announced temporary pauses to its two most popular submission tiers in an attempt to catch up on demand.

What sellers are saying

Joe Brode, owner of eBay Live seller Prime Time Sports & Framing in Kent, Ohio, has seen significant interest in nearly every trading card product released so far in 2026, particularly the new 2025 Topps Chrome Football set.

“Over the course of the year, we’ve just seen a huge trend of any product that was coming out, that stuff came out hot out of the gates,” Brode told The Athletic. “Especially this new Topps Chrome Football that just came out. The prices were absolutely crazy and then it dies down a little bit and comes back down to earth.”

According to Brode, some collectors have compensated for those high initial prices for new licensed products by buying unlicensed sets from brands like Wild Card.

“We’re seeing an uptick in non-licensed product,” Brode said. “We buy a lot of Wild Card and it’s grown in popularity. It’s a lower-end product, but it’s affordable for a lot of newer collectors and even old collectors, too. Even though it’s not a licensed product, you can still get a Jaxson Dart autograph.”

The secondary market was also particularly hot at several popular card shows in April, including Front Row Card Show’s events in San Diego and Tacoma. Front Row CEO Dan Bliss told The Athletic some vendors have struggled to keep enough inventory during multi-day events, with some tables too light on Sunday after a busy Saturday.

“We want attendees to experience a show that’s got a lot of good vendors, a lot of good inventory, and it’s a challenge for vendors to stay fully stocked,” Bliss said. “And that applies to all types of types of inventory, and certainly a lot of new wax products. They sell out so fast.”

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