{ "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/do-pokemon-cards-have-a-real-market", "slug": "do-pokemon-cards-have-a-real-market", "title": "How Many Pokémon Cards Have a Real Market?", "summary": "44,395 catalog entries carried a price on September 22, 2026. Only 11,747 carried a recorded sale. We checked the other 32,648 and found nothing there.", "section": "Data forensics", "published": "2026-09-22", "readMinutes": 8, "publisher": "moonstone", "findings": [ { "value": "73.5%", "measures": "of priced entries carry no recorded sale", "basis": "32,648 of 44,395, September 22, 2026" }, { "value": "100%", "measures": "of those were checked and came back empty", "basis": "not a single unchecked entry" }, { "value": "21.3%", "measures": "of all quoted dollars sit on entries with no recorded sale", "basis": "$157,135 of $739,142" }, { "value": "57.5%", "measures": "of priced entries are a single listing AND no recorded sale", "basis": "25,534 entries" } ], "tables": [ { "title": "The evidence ladder, 62,388 deduped catalog entries", "columns": [ "What stands behind the number", "Entries", "Share", "Median quote" ], "rows": [ { "What stands behind the number": "No quoted number on our tape at all", "Entries": "17,993", "Share": "28.8%", "Median quote": "not priced" }, { "What stands behind the number": "A quote, and no recorded sale of any kind", "Entries": "32,648", "Share": "52.3%", "Median quote": "$0.63" }, { "What stands behind the number": "A quote plus a raw sold median only", "Entries": "6", "Share": "0.0%", "Median quote": "$4.59" }, { "What stands behind the number": "A quote plus a graded tape of 3 to 9 verified sales", "Entries": "5,278", "Share": "8.5%", "Median quote": "$7.85" }, { "What stands behind the number": "A quote plus a graded tape of 10 to 49", "Entries": "4,531", "Share": "7.3%", "Median quote": "$14.09" }, { "What stands behind the number": "A quote plus a graded tape of 50 or more", "Entries": "1,932", "Share": "3.1%", "Median quote": "$19.99" } ] }, { "title": "Evidence by price band, priced entries only", "columns": [ "Quoted price", "Entries", "No recorded sale", "A tape of 10 or more sales", "Quote equals the cheapest listing" ], "rows": [ { "Quoted price": "Under $1", "Entries": "19,380", "No recorded sale": "98.5%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "0.7%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "69.3%" }, { "Quoted price": "$1 to $5", "Entries": "11,571", "No recorded sale": "71.5%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "12.6%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "87.4%" }, { "Quoted price": "$5 to $25", "Entries": "8,439", "No recorded sale": "49.0%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "27.7%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "89.3%" }, { "Quoted price": "$25 to $100", "Entries": "3,535", "No recorded sale": "27.0%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "44.2%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "88.3%" }, { "Quoted price": "$100 to $500", "Entries": "1,300", "No recorded sale": "15.2%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "65.0%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "90.8%" }, { "Quoted price": "$500 and up", "Entries": "170", "No recorded sale": "5.3%", "A tape of 10 or more sales": "79.4%", "Quote equals the cheapest listing": "92.9%" } ] }, { "title": "Evidence coverage by catalog language", "columns": [ "Language", "Entries evaluated", "Priced", "With any graded tape", "With 10 or more verified sales" ], "rows": [ { "Language": "English", "Entries evaluated": "24,395", "Priced": "21,416 (87.8%)", "With any graded tape": "6,959 (28.5%)", "With 10 or more verified sales": "4,175 (17.1%)" }, { "Language": "Japanese", "Entries evaluated": "37,993", "Priced": "22,979 (60.5%)", "With any graded tape": "4,806 (12.6%)", "With 10 or more verified sales": "2,294 (6.0%)" } ] } ], "charts": [], "sections": [ "What actually stands behind a number", "Evidence arrives with price, slowly", "Checked and empty, versus never checked", "The English half is twice as well evidenced", "What would overturn this", "What this study cannot show" ], "method": [ "Sources: `cards` (63,600 rows, the catalog as our id convention holds it), `price_history` on day 20718 (September 22, 2026 UTC) for the quote and the cheapest listing, `graded_snapshots` for the graded sold tape, read as the LATEST RECORDED ROW PER CARD KEY AND GRADE with day 20719 excluded because it was still being written, an entry tape being the largest such sample size across every grade and across both key forms behind it, `ebay_divergence` on day 20717 for the raw sold median, and the `gradednone:` negative-cache markers for the checked-and-empty test. A row is matched to price and tape by its catalog id and by its marketplace product id, both, because the graded tape is keyed on either. EVERY COUNT IS DEDUPED ON THE MARKETPLACE PRODUCT ID: 1,212 product ids are claimed by two catalog rows each, 2,424 rows of which 1,212 collapse, all 1,212 pairs sitting inside a single language, so an undeduped count would overstate the catalog by 1.9% and could place one product in a band twice. The 63,600 rows become 62,388 entries; a row with no product id is kept as its own entry, and an entry inherits the deepest tape of any row behind it. \"Any recorded sale\" means a graded sold median on at least three verified comps, or a raw sold median on at least five. Those floors are exclusions: lowering the graded floor cannot raise the count because the tape itself refuses to publish below three, while lowering the raw floor to one comp adds a negligible number of rows. The dollar-weighted totals sum one copy of each priced row at its quoted price, which deliberately ignores how many copies exist and is a measure of catalog breadth, not market capitalisation. Quoted prices are ASKS. Graded medians are SOLD medians. An absent row is not recorded, never zero. Not financial advice." ], "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file." }