Card graders authenticated 12.4 million items in the first six months of 2025 with an overall gem rate of 43%, according to new data provided by third-party grading tracker GemRate to cllct.
PSA has maintained a 72% market share with a 43% overall gem rate on 8.9 million cards graded through the first half of 2025.
GemRate’s data shows the TCG category, which includes Pokémon and non-sports cards, has gemmed 50% of the time across the 7.2 million cards graded in the first half of 2025. The category carried a 53% gem rate across more than 8.6 million cards graded in 2024.
Sports cards have earned just a 34% gem rate through the first half of 2025 across 5.1 million cards. The category carried a 40% gem rate in 2024 across 11.4 million graded cards.
The overall gem rate of 43% through 2025 so far is lower than the 45% overall gem rate carried by the industry in 2024.
Compared to sports cards, the high gem rate for TCG has been largely driven by ultra-modern submissions, with nearly 77% of PSA’s submissions from the category coming from the 2020s. According to GemRate, cards from that era have gemmed nearly 59% of the time so far in 2025.
Of the 100 most submitted cards by overall volume in 2025, 97 have been Pokémon.
The TCG category secured gem rates of 60% and 55%, respectively, from Beckett and CGC Cards so far in 2025. Those high gem rates could be attributed to savvy collectors sending in exclusively their best cards aiming to earn BGS 10 Black Labels or CGC Pristine 10s.
So far in 2025, the 53% overall gem rate from Beckett and CGC Cards is the highest among the four major authenticators — CGC currently holds a 17% market share, while Beckett has 3%.
According to GemRate’s data, SGC has by far the lowest overall gem rate of 21% in 2025, though that’s due to the company’s long-standing reputation as a key grader for vintage cards, which carry a much lower gem rate than modern examples.
Month-over-month data in 2025 shows a steady climb for TCG gem rates. Following a 49% gem rate in January, TCG climbed to 50% in April and eventually hit 52% in May and June.
The climb in 2025 follows a slow decline throughout 2024, which peaked with a 58% gem rate in February before dipping to as low as 48% in December.
The gem rate for sports cards has remained consistent so far in 2025 following a slow decline in 2024. After peaking at 43% in April and May 2024, the gem rate for sports cards declined — outside of an outlier month in September — to 34% in January 2025.
The gem rate for sports cards has remained between 34% and 35% so far in 2025.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.