January '24 Grading Recap

Published February 2nd, 2024
  • Overall grading activity was up 6% in January vs December (and up 27% YoY).
    • PSA graded 1.22m cards - down 1% vs December, and up 22% YoY
    • SGC graded 184k cards - up 53% vs December, and up 40% YoY
    • CGC graded 157k cards [record high] - up 28% vs December, and up 94% YoY
    • Beckett graded 58k cards - up 11% vs December, and up 1% YoY
January Grading Summary
January Grading Summary - Sports
January 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

January 2024 PSA Grading Recap

  • PSA graded 1,226,022 items during January; total output decreased 1% vs December and was up 22% year-over-year.

Category Summary

Baseball set the pace for PSA in January

  • TCG was 43% of cards graded (vs 46% in November)
  • Baseball (+17%), basketball (+6%), and non-sport (+21%) all saw meaningful growth in grading activity during January

Set Summary - Sports & Other

2023 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autos held on to the top spot

Set Summary - TCG+

Pokemon 151 Japanese stays on top

Player Summary - Sports & Other

Jordan maintains lead over Ohtani

Subject Summary - TCG

Pikachu and Charizard continue to battle for the top spot

Card Summary - Sports & Other

CJ Stroud makes an appearance on the leaderboard

Card Summary - TCG

Van Gogh Pikachu momentum starts to slow in January

What's Next for PSA?

  • PSA's activity in January was consistent with December's, marking a modest improvement from last year's monthly trend (-1% in ’24 vs -5% in ’23). The company introduced a strong pricing special at the month's start to capture pent-up demand. While the pricing special certainly had an impact on January grading activity, the specials tend to take time before cards hit the pop report; as a result, February could show a more significant impact.
  • PSA announced February pricing specials that are focused on TCG and baseball. However, the most interesting development in the coming months could be the initial rollout of grader’s notes. While it will likely be a feature for higher-priced tiers to start, this will be the first major change to the grading process in quite some time.

January 2024 SGC Grading Recap

  • SGC graded 157,830 cards during January - a 28% increase vs December and a 94% increase year-over-year.

Category Summary

Sports card grading increased across nearly all categories

  • Baseball accounted for 52% of SGC's grading activity in January, with football and basketball contributing 21% and 11%, respectively.

Set Summary

The recently released 2023 Bowman Draft claimed the top spot

Player (& Subject) Summary

Shohei passed Jordan thanks to a surge in baseball cards graded

Card Summary

A newcomer claims the top spot (Roki Sasaki)

What's Next for SGC?

  • SGC started 2024 on a high, achieving a record number of cards graded in a single month. The success can largely be attributed to the end-of-year Bowman special, which appears to have influenced January's figures significantly, with nine out of the top ten sets graded being Bowman.
  • SGC continues to steadily improve and has established itself as the clear number two option in sports card grading based on volume.

Other Graders - CGC

Category Summary

Set Summary

Card Summary

What's Next for CGC?

  • CGC saw a nice boost in grading activity during December. While the exact catalyst is not widely known, CGC results suggest that they were quite successful with their recent international grading events.

Other Charts - Beckett

Category Summary

Card Summary - Sports

Card Summary - TCG

What's Next for Beckett?

  • Beckett regained a bit of momentum after a slowdown in December, with no further significant updates to report at this time.