Beckett Surges While Overall Grading Activity Pulls Back in May, per GemRate
In this story:
Despite a fresh $200M capital injection and back-to-back-to-back-to-back record-breaking months for card grading, the growth streak ended in May with grading falling below 3 million cards and down 5% compared to April, according to the latest GemRate report.
A total of 2.95 million cards were graded across the major grading players in May. Although that's technically down 5% from April, when you look at the data from a per-business-day basis, grading activity was actually up 5% compared to April and is up 20% year over year.
PSA and CGC both saw slight monthly declines in line with the general dip in graded cards, while Beckett bucked the trend and saw a huge 49% increase compared to April. In fact, Beckett surged to a record high of 145K cards graded, up 145% year over year.
TAG continues its slow and steady growth, up 8% compared to April and up 40% year over year. SGC, meanwhile, continues to tank, down 4% compared to April but a staggering 67% year over year.
New Grading Companies Showing Up
According to their most recent tweet, GemRate has begun tracking new entrants to the grading space, including AGS and Arena Club, although neither is represented in their data summary. AGS graded 36.0K cards, down 29% compared to April, and Arena Club graded 5.7K cards, down 5% compared to April.
GemRate | May ’26 Grading Recap
— GemRate (@gemrate) June 2, 2026
-- Overall grading activity dipped below 3 million cards and was ⬇5% in May compared to April and ⬆20% YoY.
-- However, on a per business day basis, grading activity was ⬆5% compared to April.
-- Grading activity totaled 2.95 million cards in… pic.twitter.com/3yXUcNJqGX
PSA's decision to pause submissions amid a 10-million-card backlog may create an opportunity for alternative grading companies, like the 2025 Mantle Award nominee C3 Grading, to attract new customers.
PSA Graded Card Data
PSA graded 2.065 million cards in May, down 7% compared to April's total but up 3% on a per business day basis and up 25% compared to May 2025. TCG, which includes Pokémon, One Piece, and Magic: The Gathering, made up 67% (1.39 million) of graded cards.
Among graded sports cards, baseball led the way with 11% (222K), followed by basketball with 9% (183K), and football with 7% (141.1K). Although overall volume remains low, with 30.7K cards graded, soccer was the only major sport to see a month-over-month increase in sports cards graded, up 1%.
Wemby and LeBron Graded Card Volume Slides
For PSA's most graded athletes, Shohei Ohtani holds the top spot with 31.8K, down 6% from April. Michael Jordan took back the #2 spot with 27.2K graded cards, pushing Cooper Flagg down to the #3 position with 26.8K graded cards, a 13% dip compared to April.
Rounding out the top 10 in order are Drake Maye (12.2K), Victor Wembanyama (8.6K), Kobe Bryant (8.2K), Kon Knueppel (8.0K), Aaron Judge (7.2K), Jaxson Dart (6.8K), and LeBron James (6.6K).
Despite some monster sales in May, Victor Wembanyama saw a 22% drop in graded cards compared to April. The only basketball player in the top 10 that saw a sharper drop was LeBron James, with a 25% decline. The only top athlete with more than a 5% increase in cards graded was Lamine Yamal.
Pokémon and Monkey D. Luffy Maintain Strong & Stable Position
Pokémon and One Piece continue to dominate the grading space. Despite a small dip compared to April, TCG still makes up roughly two-thirds of all card grading activity, with Pokémon continuing to account for the lion's share of graded TCG cards.
It's also worth noting the lower volatility of top TCG cards compared to sports cards, suggesting greater predictability and stability in this collectible category.
Graded Pikachu and Charizard continue to own the top TCG spots while Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece keeps showing up in the third spot and is slowly climbing. In fact, Luffy cards were one of just two that saw month-over-month gains with a 6% bump compared to April. The only other TCG card with a gain was Dragonite, with a strong 19% increase.
We continue to see One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy continue to show up in the top 10 for TCG cards. However, now that Roronoa Zoro has seen a sale in the six figures, there may be another One Piece card showing up in the top soon!
If current demand trends hold, May could be remembered as the last sub-3 million month for some time as grading companies work through enormous backlogs and collectors continue to submit cards at a record pace.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Conor is a leading sports collectibles writer and market analyst with more than 100 published articles covering sports cards, Pokémon, auctions, investing trends, and hobby culture. A lifelong collector who entered the hobby in the early 1990s, Conor’s expertise centers on vintage and modern basketball cards, basketball icons, and iconic Boston sports memorabilia tied to legends like Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz.