August '24 Grading Recap

Published September 1st, 2024
  • Overall grading activity was ⬆ 5% in August compared to July and ⬆ 17% YoY.
  • 1.8 million cards were graded in August - a new record - narrowly surpassing the previous record set in May 2024.
    • PSA graded 1.39m cards - ⬆ 10% vs July, ⬆ 13% YoY. This is a new record high for PSA.
    • CGC graded 171k cards - 10% vs July, ⬆ 60% YoY.
    • SGC graded 166k cards - 14% vs July, ⬆ 40% YoY.
    • Beckett graded 65k cards - ⬆ 19% vs July, 13% YoY.
August Grading Summary

August Grading Summary - Sports

August Grading Summary - TCG+

Items Graded - by Month
Items Graded - by Month - Excluding PSA

Category Comparison

TCG Cards Graded at PSA

Items Graded by Era

Gem Rate Breakdown by Era

August 2024 PSA Grading Recap

  • PSA graded 1,397,357 items during August; total output increased by 10% vs July and was up 13% year-over-year.

Category Summary

TCG and football had the largest impact in August

  • TCG was 37% of cards graded in August (up from 32% in July and June).

Set Summary - Sports & Other

2023 Donruss Optic football moved into the top spot


Set Summary - TCG+

Japanese Pokemon 151 maintained a strong lead over English 151


Player Summary - Sports & Other

Wembanyama remains the story


Subject Summary - TCG

Charizard's lead over Pikachu narrows


Card Summary - Sports & Other

Paul Skenes jumps into the top 5 cards


Card Summary - TCG

2024 cards are moving up the chart


What's Next for PSA?

  • PSA set a new record high in August, driven by a resurgence in TCG. This marks the strongest TCG performance since January and may have influenced PSA's decision to offer another Pokemon special in September.
  • September results often track closely with August, so would not be surprised to see between 1.3 and 1.4 million cards graded during the month.

August 2024 SGC Grading Recap

  • SGC graded 166,925 items during August; total output decreased by 14% vs July and was up 40% year-over-year.
  • Note that grading activity would be down just 3% compared to July if not for the one-time adjustment last month. As a reminder, SGC had 22,000 cards added to July totals to account for cards GemRate missed during the May and June reports.

Category Summary

Multi sport and soccer outperformed in August


Set Summary

2024 Bowman was the top graded set


Player (& Subject) Summary

Jordan moves back ahead of Wembanyama


Card Summary

Wembanyama cracks the top 10

What's Next for SGC?

  • SGC activity dipped slightly in August, with a roughly 3% decline compared to July when looking at comparable results. Looking ahead to September, SGC launched a generous Topps Chrome special, which could help push results beyond recent trends.

Other Graders - CGC

Category Summary


Set Summary


Card Summary


What's Next for CGC?

  • CGC's TCG results have been relatively consistent throughout 2024, with monthly grading volumes ranging between 150k and 170k. However, August saw the lowest activity of the year, dipping just below 150k.
  • In contrast, CGC sports maintained most of its July momentum, grading over 20k cards again in August.
  • CGC recently announced a collaboration with Fanatics Collect to offer extremely affordable and fast grading for cards listed on the platform. CGC deserves credit for consistently pushing the boundaries via partnerships, and this one will certainly be worth watching.

Other Charts - Beckett

Category Summary


Card Summary - Sports


Card Summary - TCG

What's Next for Beckett?

  • Beckett’s results showed meaningful improvement in August, though the year-over-year trend remains downward. Another month of gains would be a positive sign for Beckett, although the catalyst for that improvement isn't immediately clear.