Shattering ceilings like a Shaquille O’Neal dunk, the trading card industry swung for the fences in June 2025, registering an eye-popping $305.7 million in sales, setting a new benchmark for trading aficionados and casual collectors alike. The staggering sum, exceeding the former record of $303.22 million set just a few months prior in March, epitomizes a vortex of fervor and passion swirling through the marketplace, as per Card Ladder, a leading card metrics aggregator.
In a symphony of swipes, auctions, and bids, eBay took center stage, comprising a significant portion of this crescendo with over $245 million in card transactions. Notably, this marketplace titan was flanked by other powerhouses such as Goldin, which conjured up $32 million worth of sales, and Fanatics Collect, contributing an additional $27 million. Altogether, these transactions form a patchwork of gavel strikes and digital haggles, coming together to spin tales of cardboard legends.
Card Ladder’s gears were greased for quite a ride, tracking a remarkable 5.2 million individual transactions throughout June alone. This figure stands tall as the second-highest ever recorded on the Card Ladder platform, and yet the numbers may still soar higher as tardy data dribbles in through the initial weeks of July. It’s as if every pixel and fiber was alive with history, passion, and a bit of good old investment polynomial.
Highlighting June’s star-studded docket was a dazzling purchase at Goldin Auctions—none other than the 2009-10 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual NBA Logoman card. This masterpiece, showcasing the prints of two basketball luminaries, LeBron James and the late, great Kobe Bryant, astonished many by selling for $1.16 million. This standout piece of history was the lone warrior of seven-figure transactions that month, a badge of prestige speaking volumes about the global phenomenon these athletes continue to embody.
Zooming out just a touch, six titanic cards traded hands for more than half a million dollars each. Not to be left in the dust, a fab 68 members of the cardboard fraternity passed the $100,000 chip, while an elite clique of 239 slapped down over $50,000. The gleam of opportunity never shone brighter, nor has the allure of high-stakes collection been more magnetic, enticing faces old and new to the exhilarating possibilities of bidding wars and collector camaraderie.
Parallel to the bustling buy-and-sell, the process of grading—the hallowed ritual that assigns cards their value and rank—scaled soaring new heights. GemRate, another giant in the stats and metrics game, unveiled numbers indicating that 12.4 million cards have been blessed with grades throughout 2025 so far. That’s a sprightly 25% leap since last year. And leading the pack in this endeavor are TCG (Trading Card Games) and non-sports cards, which, with 7.2 million grading submissions, revealed their own czars and princes, the likes of which Pokémon naturally takes the lion’s share.
Eyes may as well start glimmering with Pikachu’s electric sparks, for out of the top 100 gradings at powerhouse PSA, 97 were Pokémon cards. Truly, the pocket monsters seem to be entrenched in our hearts, wallets, and consciousness, playing herald to a generational passion that refuses to wane. For the uninitiated, it’s a collector’s fever dream; for the veterans, it’s just Tuesday in the bountiful, wondrous world of trading cards.
June was not just a glimpse into cardboard opulence and rival could-have-beens—rather, it marked a crescendo carrying forward the vibrancy of the first half of 2025. Trading card vigor in sports, TCGs, and wilderness cards continues to charge ahead like a storied winger racing down a soccer pitch. Full of the same charismatic zeal that got the ball rolling, this uptick fosters spangled enthusiasm for what continues to be a thrilling jaunt through collectibles.
The question isn’t just about what’s next, but how long the crescendo will keep sustaining its euphonious pitch. As the hobby extends its inexorable allure to more enthusiasts, both dreamers and realists await eagerly to see which corner of the card universe will sparkle next.
Past and present collide on an intricate tableau where collectors converge and whisper testimonies of history, dotted with the essence of heroes, game changers, and imagination. Riding on the winds of both nostalgia and novelty, the trading card tableau thrives not just on what was, but on what horizon yet to emerge. As enthusiasts lean closer, they draw strength from a common thread—one woven tight with history, whimsy, and the marvels strung together with each card handled, traded, and treasured.
