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Stocks, exchange-traded funds, and real estate are some common assets that make up a diverse investment portfolio. Now, it seems investors are adding trading cards to that portfolio.
According to Gemrate, the four major trading card authenticators graded over 20 million cards in 2024, a 16% increase from the year before.
On a recent episode of Yahoo Finance’s Sports Report podcast, Ryan Hoge, president of the top trading card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), explained how a sector that rapidly grew during the pandemic has now become an essential part of some investors’ liquid assets.
“I think we’re in for another strong year,” Hoge said (see video above or listen below). “Q4 2024 ended on a very strong note. We saw continued growth both in units and new customers coming in compared to the previous year. And we think those trends are going [to] continue as more people get into collecting or get back into collecting.”
PSA is a company that authenticates trading cards, grading them based on their rarity and condition. Its process uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human authentication to let collectors and investors alike know how much an individual trading card is worth.
The company “protects and preserves the card in the secure holder and it adds additional liquidity based on the scarcity of the cards,” Hoge explained. “Obviously, the higher the grade, the more rare it is and usually the more valuable it is, and so it’s easier to transact those on marketplaces like eBay.”
The trading card market boomed during the pandemic. At one point, Hoge said PSA received around 13 million trading cards as part of its backlog, forcing the company to scale up to meet the growing demand.
As the trading card market has grown, so have buying and selling services. These days, potential collectors and investors don’t need to find space in their homes to store their cards as they wait for their value to rise. For instance, PSA has a vault that allows investors to store their cards with the company. It’s also integrated with eBay (EBAY) to allow collectors to sell their stock easily as the prices for specific cards rise.
“Let’s say a player goes off, has a great game, and you want to get [their card] listed,” Hoge explained. “You can have it listed that night, it’ll sell immediately, and then we actually take care of all the fulfillment and processing. So it’s a way to have more friction-free selling and you can time the market.”
Options like this have made trading cards a value portfolio asset even for those who aren’t big collectors.
Hoge said those looking to get into the market should keep their eye on rookie players, especially for the NBA, as Fanatics takes over the trading card license for the basketball association.
“A lot of people, they want to speculate on a rookie player — maybe they’re going to have a great upcoming season,” Hoge said. “So they load up, and then when they start to get hot, they want to take some profits on these [cards].”
Every Thursday, Sports Report with Joe Pompliano coaches you through the latest sports business news so you can play the financial game for financial gain. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.
