Today an opinion article was released on the NY Post written by Alt founder and CEO Leore Avidar and Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. The article is titled “Tariffs are driving investors to Pokémon and Mickey Mantle as trading cards gain credibility as domestic assets” and is linked here for those who may be interested.
There are a number of interesting facts posed in this article, including:
Collectibles have emerged as a legitimate asset class: a $600 billion+ global industry, with trading cards alone valued at more than $15 billion as of 2024
In 2024 alone, graded-trading-cards transactions (across markets) grew by 17.8% compared with 2023 and by 68.7% compared with 2021
Total transaction value also grew by 10.35% year-over-year from 2023 to 2024
Particularly notable is the momentum in the sub-$1,000 category, where both transaction count and value grew by nearly 18%
The article also showcases a couple of large trading card sales, to include the recent sale on Alt of a PSA 10 Japanese Art Academy Pikachu by Mame Akimaru for $148,666.
I’m curious on people’s thoughts on all of this. Given the growth and market interest we are all seeing, I’ll admit it has become harder for me to separate out simply collecting because I genuinely like Pokemon, and using Pokemon cards as an investment vehicle and legitimate piece of my portfolio. Not that that is necessarily good or bad, just a different way to interact with the Pokemon cards than I have previously. It certainly makes me wonder how interacting with Pokemon will feel for me in 5-10 years.
People with a financial interest writing a puff piece about how great of an investment pokemon cards are
But on a more serious note: There is no denying that over the last 5 years, pokemon has taken on a significant uptick in people who are more “investors” than “collectors”.
My concern is how it will do over the next year or so. Specifically, how does the market handle a potential US (and maybe even global) economic downturn?
I sure hope so! I’m currently betting that we are at or near the (short-term) peak and am selling everything not in my personal collection. Granted, it serves a 2-fold purpose: 1) trying to free up cash to buy a house and 2) be able to have more cash on hand to potentially buy good deals later this year or next year.
Auction house that sells cards says that they should be worth money.
Anyone in the TCG space knows that they are worth money. This piece was written to further legitimize the “asset class” to old money investors - the folks who collect art, coins, wine, currency, historical artifacts, race horses, cars, watches and jewelry, etc.
Pokemon cards are not an “asset”, they are a collectable whose speculative value wildly swings based on trends…not surprising, as other commenters have said, this guy sells cards and is saying that you should buy more cards, but c’mon, it’s as much of an “asset” as beanie babies.
Obviously there is an incentive for someone who makes money selling collectibles to pump up collectibles. I also think it’s interesting that it’s framed in a way that Tariffs are the driving force for the ‘surge’. Something that can be implemented or removed with a stroke off a pen. I take the entire article with a grain of salt.
In spite of that, the performance of Pokemon cards relative to other collectibles is hard to deny. Time will tell.
It probably qualifies as an alternative asset. But I agree with your sentiment; there generally are better ways to invest your money when you consider opportunity cost.
