{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/which-psa-grade-actually-trades",
  "slug": "which-psa-grade-actually-trades",
  "title": "Above $1,000, the PSA 9 Is the Grade That Trades",
  "summary": "On 5,998 cards priced in both grades, 33.41% carry more recorded PSA 9 sales than PSA 10 sales. Where the PSA 10 clears $1,000, that rises to 74.62%.",
  "section": "Grading economics",
  "published": "2026-09-22",
  "readMinutes": 8,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "33.41%",
      "measures": "cards with more recorded PSA 9 sales than PSA 10 sales",
      "basis": "2,004 of 5,998 products priced in both, September 22, 2026"
    },
    {
      "value": "74.62%",
      "measures": "the same share where the PSA 10 sells for $1,000 or more",
      "basis": "688 of 922 cards"
    },
    {
      "value": "10 against 20",
      "measures": "median comp count, PSA 10 against PSA 9, above $1,000",
      "basis": "the expensive ten is the thinner series"
    },
    {
      "value": "2,679 and 2,295",
      "measures": "products holding one of the two grades and not the other",
      "basis": "absent, which is not the same as zero sales"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "Which grade carries the recorded sales, by PSA 10 sold median (5,998 products, none excluded)",
      "columns": [
        "PSA 10 sold median",
        "Cards",
        "PSA 9 pool deeper",
        "Share",
        "Median PSA 10 comps",
        "Median PSA 9 comps"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "Under $25",
          "Cards": "82",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "12",
          "Share": "14.63%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "12",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "5"
        },
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "$25 to $50",
          "Cards": "850",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "95",
          "Share": "11.18%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "22",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "7"
        },
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "$50 to $100",
          "Cards": "1,209",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "147",
          "Share": "12.16%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "32",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "12"
        },
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "$100 to $250",
          "Cards": "1,411",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "355",
          "Share": "25.16%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "27",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "15"
        },
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "$250 to $1,000",
          "Cards": "1,524",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "707",
          "Share": "46.39%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "13",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "13"
        },
        {
          "PSA 10 sold median": "$1,000 and up",
          "Cards": "922",
          "PSA 9 pool deeper": "688",
          "Share": "74.62%",
          "Median PSA 10 comps": "10",
          "Median PSA 9 comps": "20"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Deepest nine tape against thinnest ten tape: ranks 1 to 10 of 471, ordered by the comp ratio descending",
      "columns": [
        "Rank",
        "Card",
        "Set",
        "PSA 10 (comps)",
        "PSA 9 (comps)",
        "Comp ratio"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Rank": "1",
          "Card": "[Wigglytuff](/card/base2-16)",
          "Set": "[Jungle](/set/jungle)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$3,793.50 (3)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$215.00 (93)",
          "Comp ratio": "31.0 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "2",
          "Card": "[Rainbow Energy](/card/base5-17)",
          "Set": "[Team Rocket](/set/team%20rocket)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$1,887.49 (3)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$123.00 (64)",
          "Comp ratio": "21.3 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "3",
          "Card": "[Shining Gyarados](/card/neo3-65)",
          "Set": "[Neo Revelation](/set/neo%20revelation)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$26,839.45 (4)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$5,850.00 (74)",
          "Comp ratio": "18.5 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "4",
          "Card": "[Koga's Beedrill](/card/gym2-9)",
          "Set": "[Gym Challenge](/set/gym%20challenge)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$3,425.00 (3)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$139.25 (40)",
          "Comp ratio": "13.3 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "5",
          "Card": "[Charizard δ](/card/ex14-4)",
          "Set": "Crystal Guardians",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$21,347.50 (5)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$2,112.50 (60)",
          "Comp ratio": "12.0 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "6",
          "Card": "[Scizor](/card/neo2-10)",
          "Set": "[Neo Discovery](/set/neo%20discovery)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$1,699.99 (3)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$255.00 (36)",
          "Comp ratio": "12.0 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "7",
          "Card": "[Blastoise EX](/card/xyp-XY122)",
          "Set": "XY Black Star Promos",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$13,874.99 (4)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$1,071.25 (47)",
          "Comp ratio": "11.8 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "8",
          "Card": "[Milotic δ](/card/ex15-5)",
          "Set": "Dragon Frontiers",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$2,375.00 (3)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$278.73 (35)",
          "Comp ratio": "11.7 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "9",
          "Card": "[Espeon](/card/neo2-1)",
          "Set": "[Neo Discovery](/set/neo%20discovery)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$11,000.00 (5)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$1,971.62 (58)",
          "Comp ratio": "11.6 to 1"
        },
        {
          "Rank": "10",
          "Card": "[Dark Arbok](/card/base5-2)",
          "Set": "[Team Rocket](/set/team%20rocket)",
          "PSA 10 (comps)": "$1,903.50 (4)",
          "PSA 9 (comps)": "$152.88 (46)",
          "Comp ratio": "11.5 to 1"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Share of cards with a deeper PSA 9 comp pool than PSA 10 comp pool",
      "unit": "%",
      "note": "All 5,998 products priced in both grades, September 22, 2026, cut on the PSA 10 sold median.",
      "points": [
        {
          "label": "Under $25",
          "value": 14.63,
          "basis": "12 of 82 cards"
        },
        {
          "label": "$25 to $50",
          "value": 11.18,
          "basis": "95 of 850"
        },
        {
          "label": "$50 to $100",
          "value": 12.16,
          "basis": "147 of 1,209"
        },
        {
          "label": "$100 to $250",
          "value": 25.16,
          "basis": "355 of 1,411"
        },
        {
          "label": "$250 to $1,000",
          "value": 46.39,
          "basis": "707 of 1,524"
        },
        {
          "label": "$1,000 and up",
          "value": 74.62,
          "basis": "688 of 922"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    "The share climbs at $100 and again at $250",
    "What a three-sale median is",
    "Three ways this could be wrong",
    "What would overturn this"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Source: `graded_snapshots` (product key, grade, UTC day, median, sample_size), latest row per product and grade with a median above zero on or before day 20718 (September 22, 2026 UTC). Day 20719 is excluded because it was the UTC day still being written while this study ran, 7,207 rows against 29,676 on day 20718 at the time of the query and still filling afterwards. The population is every product holding BOTH a PSA 10 and a PSA 9 row under that rule, 5,998 of them, with NO comp gate applied, so the six price bands partition the whole population exactly once and their counts sum to 5,998. `sample_size` is the provider's count of kept verified sold comps behind that published median; it is a lifetime pool rather than a window, it is not capped, and the tape refuses to publish a median standing on fewer than three. Comparisons are always between the two grades OF THE SAME PRODUCT, so provider coverage, card age and collecting history are held constant by construction. Ties are counted as neither grade deeper and printed: 3,740 products have a deeper ten pool, 2,004 a deeper nine pool and 254 are tied, summing to 5,998. Price bands are cut on the PSA 10 sold median. All figures here are SOLD medians and comp counts from verified graded sales; no ask appears in this study. The graded tape is keyed on either the TCGplayer product id or the catalog id and both are asked; 1,443 rows carry a key we cannot map to a product and are excluded, and an unmappable row cannot enter a within-product comparison. EVERY COUNT IS DEDUPED ON THE TCGPLAYER PRODUCT ID: 1,212 ids are claimed by two catalog rows each, and where two rows reach one product the deeper comp pool is kept. The named table is the head of a single ranking of the 471 products whose PSA 10 clears $1,000 and whose PSA 9 carries 20 or more verified comps, ordered by PSA 9 comps divided by PSA 10 comps descending with ties broken on the product id, printed with no rank skipped. That 20-comp gate is a selection and it is the reason the table is not simply the thinnest ten pools in the catalog. Medians use the upper-middle nearest-rank convention, the value at index floor(p x n) of the ascending sample. An absent grade is NOT RECORDED, never zero: 2,679 products hold a PSA 10 median and no PSA 9 one, 2,295 the reverse, and all of them are excluded. 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."
}