Yes, grading companies are experiencing unprecedented volume spikes driven almost entirely by Pokémon cards. In 2025, the major grading industry processed 26.8 million cards total—a staggering 32% increase from 2024’s 20 million cards. PSA alone processed over 19 million items, marking its biggest grading year in company history, with 11+ million of those being TCG cards, the vast majority Pokémon.
This explosive growth represents a fundamental shift in the collectibles market, as hobbyists and serious collectors race to grade their collections. This article explores why Pokémon dominates grading submissions, how the surge is reshaping industry operations, and what it means for collectors trying to get cards evaluated in 2025 and beyond. The numbers tell a clear story: Pokémon has become the gravitational center of the entire trading card grading ecosystem. This concentration of demand has forced graders to hire aggressively, adjust pricing, and manage unprecedented backlogs—changes that directly affect anyone looking to grade cards today.
Table of Contents
- Why Is Pokémon Driving This Unprecedented Grading Surge?
- The Industry-Wide Growth Numbers and Market Impact
- Pokémon’s Overwhelming Dominance in Graded Cards
- Managing Your Grading Submissions in 2025
- Wait Times and Pricing Pressures Create Real Constraints
- How Collectors Are Responding to the Backlog
- Will Grading Demand Stabilize or Continue Climbing?
- Conclusion
Why Is Pokémon Driving This Unprecedented Grading Surge?
pokémon‘s dominance in grading submissions reflects broader trends: renewed nostalgia among millennial collectors, strong tournament play driving competitive demand, and the release of high-value vintage inventory. Early 2025 data shows TCG submissions were up 70% year-over-year, with Pokémon accounting for the overwhelming majority. The card game’s global reach—unlike sports cards, which are primarily a North American focus—means international collectors are also flooding grading queues. The appetite for certified cards has intensified because grading serves multiple roles in the Pokémon market.
Collectors want condition verification for insurance and personal satisfaction. Sellers need grades to justify premium pricing. Tournament players benefit from the legitimacy third-party grading provides. Unlike sports cards, where grading is considered standard practice for anything above common-grade, the Pokémon community is still in the phase of rapid adoption of grading as a norm, creating pent-up demand that traditional graders weren’t equipped to handle.
The Industry-Wide Growth Numbers and Market Impact
The 32% year-over-year growth from 2024 to 2025 represents the largest single-year increase in card grading volume across the entire hobby. PSA’s 19 million items processed in 2025 nearly doubled their historical output, while CGC Cards graded 2.18 million items with 1.83 million being Pokémon or general TCG. Smaller competitors like Sportscard Grading and others absorbed additional volume, but the big two—PSA and CGC—command the market and bore the brunt of the surge. However, this explosive growth has created a critical bottleneck: turnaround times have stretched, and prices have risen.
In October 2025, PSA increased both its grading prices and expected wait times in direct response to the volume spike. For collectors, this means choosing between paying more for slower service or accepting significantly longer waits. A card that might have been graded in 10 days in 2024 now faces a 60+ day backlog at standard service tiers. The market efficiency of casual collectors willing to wait has shifted—there’s now a pricing premium for impatience.
Pokémon’s Overwhelming Dominance in Graded Cards
Pokémon isn’t just popular in grading; it’s nearly monopolistic. In the first half of 2025, 97 of the top 100 most-graded cards by PSA were Pokémon. This concentration reflects both the hobby’s scale and the particular cards driving collector interest—first edition Charizard, shadowless cards, Japanese vintage base set cards, and modern high-value chase cards like Umbreon-ex and Pikachu promos.
For context, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! have growing grading submissions, but they represent rounding errors compared to Pokémon’s volume. Pokémon’s position isn’t threatened anytime soon—the brand’s cultural omnipresence, ongoing game popularity, and the multi-generational appeal of the card game mean the TCG will continue driving grading demand. However, this concentration also means that if Pokémon’s market activity cools or a competing TCG gains significant traction, grading companies’ revenue could become more volatile.
Managing Your Grading Submissions in 2025
For collectors looking to grade cards today, submission strategy matters more than ever. PSA remains the market leader for prestige and pricing depth—their grades command the highest secondary market premiums. However, wait times at PSA are substantially longer, and their price increases have pushed some casual collectors toward CGC Cards, which offers competitive alternatives at lower price points for standard services. A practical approach: prioritize grading only cards that justify the cost.
At current PSA pricing (standard service runs $10–$50+ per card depending on value), you’re looking at real money spent on bulk submissions. Reserve grading for cards with secondary market values that exceed the grading cost by a meaningful margin—typically 5–10x the service fee. Modern bulk submissions of common cards make little financial sense; vintage or chase cards that show near-mint condition warrant the investment. CGC Cards offers a middle-ground option for collectors who want reputable grading without PSA’s premium pricing.
Wait Times and Pricing Pressures Create Real Constraints
The pricing increases announced in October 2025 represent not just inflation adjustment but market rationing. By making grading more expensive, companies discourage casual submissions while capturing more revenue per card. PSA’s turnaround time adjustments mean that choosing expedited services costs significantly more—a dynamic that didn’t exist when backlogs were manageable. Standard service waits of 60+ days are now common, and even expedited options may exceed the timeline collectors remember from 2023 or early 2024.
Here’s the hidden cost: if you’ve got a card you’re considering selling and you’re waiting 60+ days for grading, you’re exposed to market price fluctuations in the interim. A card worth $500 at grading submission might be worth $400 when the grade arrives due to broader market conditions. This timing risk is real and rarely factored into the calculus of grading ROI. For time-sensitive sales, ungraded sales at a discount might actually beat the math of grading delays.
How Collectors Are Responding to the Backlog
Smart collectors are adapting their strategies. Some are consolidating submissions to save on batch fees. Others are using CGC Cards or newer competitors as alternatives, creating a slight shift in market share.
Tournament players and serious collectors are prioritizing certifiable play-condition cards, while casual collectors are deferring grading decisions or shifting focus to ungraded sales. One practical shift worth noting: the emergence of grading service brokers and local comic shops offering bundled submission services. These intermediaries will batch your cards with other collectors’ submissions, potentially saving on handling and shipping costs. The tradeoff is loss of direct communication with the grader and potential delays in retrieving individual cards if an issue arises.
Will Grading Demand Stabilize or Continue Climbing?
The 2025 surge likely represents peak demand for the near term. Grading volume can’t grow 32% indefinitely—the addressable market of gradeable cards is finite. What’s more likely is consolidation: as prices rise and wait times extend, many casual collectors will exit the grading market, while serious collectors and dealers will maintain consistent submission volumes.
This should create some equilibrium by 2026. Longer term, the sustainability of the industry depends on whether Pokémon’s competitive play and collecting culture remain strong. If the TCG experiences a collecting downturn or a rival TCG gains significant market share, grading companies may struggle to absorb infrastructure investments they’ve made to handle 2025 volumes. For now, though, grading remains a growth industry driven almost entirely by Pokémon’s cultural dominance.
Conclusion
Grading companies are unquestionably overwhelmed by Pokémon volume, with 2025 marking record-breaking years across the industry. PSA processed 19+ million items, the industry graded 26.8 million cards total, and 97 of the top 100 graded cards were Pokémon. This success has come with real costs: longer wait times, higher prices, and a need for collectors to think strategically about which cards actually warrant grading investment.
If you’re planning to grade cards in 2025 or beyond, the baseline advice is simple: be selective, understand the ROI, and manage expectations on turnaround times. The days of casual bulk grading for condition confirmation are effectively over at the major graders. The market has shifted toward intentional, high-value submissions from serious collectors and dealers. That shift reflects Pokémon’s maturation as a serious collectible asset class—a sign of the hobby’s growth, even if it’s creating friction for those trying to navigate the grading ecosystem today.
