The trading card industry has once again made headlines, and this time it has pulled off a magnificent feat—a record-breaking $305 million spent in a single month. The beloved hobby, with its mix of nostalgia and investment appeal, has captured the attention of collectors and opportunistic investors alike. Back in June 2025, the trading card market saw unprecedented financial activities, breaking its own record previously set in March of the same year. According to Card Ladder, a platform that diligently tracks trading card data, the colossal $305.7 million transaction total is the largest ever recorded in a single month, and intriguingly, the number might still rise as additional sales data continues to trickle in.
Upon examining the details behind this astonishing surge, it’s clear that eBay took the lion’s share, accounting for over $245 million out of the staggering total. This comes as no surprise given the online marketplace’s extensive reach and popularity among trading card enthusiasts. On the heels of eBay’s success, Goldin, a well-known auction house, managed to rake in another impressive $32 million. Meanwhile, Fanatics Collect, another player in the card selling landscape, contributed $27 million to the grand total for June. The enthusiasm this hobby has seen is evident as Card Ladder logged 5.2 million individual transactions in June alone, ranking as the second highest transaction count ever captured on the platform.
One remarkable standout during this frenzied period was the top individual sale of a collectible piece—a 2009-10 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual NBA Logoman card, featuring the celebrated basketball icons LeBron James and Kobe Bryant on it. Sold by Goldin, this card fittingly commanded a jaw-dropping $1.16 million, standing out as the lone card bearing a seven-figure price tag for the month.
It’s not merely the sky-high single sale that illustrates the flourishing robust nature of the trading card market. Six individual cards successfully sold for more than $500,000, a noteworthy 68 transactions crossed the $100,000 mark, and a remarkable 239 cards topped $50,000, reinforcing the potency and allure especially in the high-end market sector.
In parallel, another vital cog in the trading card wheel is grading activity, which similarly hit new summits. GemRate, a service that tracks card grading statistics, reported that by mid-2025, an extraordinary 12.4 million cards had been graded—a robust 25% increase compared to the entire previous year. Out of the mammoth figure, trading card games (TCGs) and non-sports cards represented a significant chunk, with Pokémon firmly leading the brigade. Astonishingly, of the 100 most graded cards at PSA this year, a whopping 97 have featured the beloved creatures from the Pokémon universe, showcasing the unrelenting popularity of Pikachu and its pals among collectors.
All these elements converged to present June’s record-breaking numbers as the glittering crown on an already impressive first half of 2025 for the trading card hobby. The sustained momentum in the industry is not exclusive to sports but spans the exciting territory of TCGs and other card games, promising a captivating future for enthusiasts and investors alike. As more players come into the hobby and look to unearth hidden treasures or invest in potential future grails, the trading card domain is indeed shedding its past image—a nostalgia-laden pastime—and becoming a dynamic, worthwhile investment frontier. With its promising growth trajectory, one can’t help but wonder what new milestones the cards will turn up next.
