The Hobby Booms: A Record-Breaking April for Card Grading
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When you look back at the February and March GemRate reports, it's clear that any fears around the hobby being in a bubble are unsubstantiated. The latest data from the April report continues to tell a story of sustained strength after a record-breaking 2025.
According to the latest GemRate data, over 3.10 million cards were graded across the major grading companies in April, setting a new record. That's up about 4% from March, or roughly 120,000 additional graded cards. PSA and CGC continue to reach new record highs for grading card volumes, while Beckett saw a slight dip, but they are still up 70% year-over-year.
GemRate | April ’26 Grading Recap
— GemRate (@gemrate) May 2, 2026
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-- Overall grading activity crossed the 3 million card mark and was ⬆4% in April compared to March and ⬆43% YoY.
-- Grading activity set another record in April, with 3.10 million cards graded, ⬆~120k compared to March.… pic.twitter.com/MZyEHDMyc4
The year-over-year trends are even more impressive. Last April, roughly 2.17 million cards were graded, meaning year-over-year volume is up about 43%.
PSA Graded Cards
The latest report is yet another signal that the hobby is entering a new era of strength. Despite several broader macroeconomic factors (like energy costs and geopolitical impacts on the economy), collectors still see value in the services these companies provide.
PSA set a new record after grading 2.21 million cards, up 2% from March, and up 42% compared to last April. CGC also set a new record after processing an impressive 690K cards, up 15% month-over-month and an incredible 102% year-over-year.
Beckett, meanwhile, saw a slight dip in grading 97K cards, down 8% from the 106K cards graded in March but up about 70% in a year. TAG continued its steady climb at 48K cards, up 27% from April 2025.
The Same Players Continue to Dominate Sports Card Grading
When you look back at prior reports in 2026, you'll see the same names up at the top, and April was no different. Shohei Ohtani continues to reign supreme at the No. 1 overall spot, and basketball owns six of the top-10 positions, but Jordan is no longer No. 2.
For graded athletes, Shohei Ohtani led the way with roughly 33.6K cards graded, up 10% from March. Cooper Flagg grabbed that No. 2 spot with 30.7K graded cards, up 18%, followed by Michael Jordan at No. 3 with 28.6K. Drake Maye takes the No. 4 spot in April with 16.3K graded cards, up 17% compared to March.
The month-over-month change in grading volumes is also key to watch since it shows who's hot and who's not. Demand for Kon Knueppel continues to look strong as he leads top-10 athletes with a strong 47% increase. There were four other athletes in the top-10 with 10%+ increases in grading volume: Ohtani, Flagg, Maye, and Victor Wembanyama.
Meanwhile, Michael Jordan and Aaron Judge saw slight declines in grading volume. Jordan was only down 1%, which could be nothing, or it could signal that many of the best grade-worthy cards are already in slabs. There probably aren't too many people rushing to get Jordan cards graded from the 2024 Skybox Metal Universe set in slabs.
Surprisingly, Aaron Judge was down 8% month-over-month. This one hits different since baseball season is well underway and Judge is off to a roaring start, hitting 12 home runs and 21 RBIs in his first 33 games.
Judge is probably the best power hitter we’ve seen since Barry Bonds, and there's no obvious reason for a dip in grading demand. It will be key to watch the May GemRate report to see if this swings back into a growth story, which is pretty much guaranteed barring an injury.
TCG Continues to Thrive
Demand for grading trading card games continues to dominate grading submissions. After a slight dip in February, March and April saw TCG top 2 million graded cards. April TCG card grades are up over 2.2 million and are on track to potentially hit 3 million by the end of the year for PSA alone.
As we saw in February and March, nine of PSA's top ten most-graded TCG cards were Pokémon, with Pikachu and Charizard leading the way.
However, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece continues to show the franchise's strength, as his cards continue to hold down the No. 3 spot. The demand for Monkey D. Luffy cards was up again month-over-month, with a 13% increase.
This is significant, since grading demand was mixed for Pokémon cards, with six of the top-10 Pokémon cards all seeing slight dips (between 3% and 13%) in card grading in April.
The four Pokémon cards that saw a boost in grading demand month over month were Charizard (up 7%), Gengar (up 8%), Dragonite (up 34%), and Oricorio (up 29%).
Pikachu again saw a down month, with demand dropping 9%. Mewtwo, Mew, Umbreon, Eevee, and Lucario also all saw month-over-month declines.
April reinforced a clear trend. The hobby hasn't shown any warning signs of slowing down. But rather it’s evolving, with familiar athletes and Pokémon continuing to drive demand while new contenders shape what comes next.
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Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.