One mustn’t look too closely at the data to glean what many already feel based on the buzz surrounding the hobby these days.
Record sales, celebrity involvement and booming business are seemingly everywhere you look in the hobby.
But it still is worth looking into the numbers … and they do not merely back up that sentiment, but, in fact, they show things are off to an even wilder start to the year than one may think.
Looking at card sales in three bands ($10,000 and up, $100,000 and up, and $1 million and up) from 2019-2025 according to Card Ladder, as well as the current pace of card sales in 2026, it suggests the bull market is just getting started.
For sales of $10,000 or more, here is what the past few years have looked like:
- 2019: 1,998
- 2020: 5,720
- 2021: 17,846
- 2022: 21,649
- 2023: 12,711
- 2024: 12,573
- 2025: 24,994
So far, as of March 3, there have been 7,025 sales of $10,000 or more — meaning we are on pace to obliterate the all time record with more than 41,000 by year’s end if this trajectory holds.
Howabout for $100,000 and above?
- 2019: 79
- 2020: 204
- 2021: 978
- 2022: 1,037
- 2023: 530
- 2024: 525
- 2025: 911
The 233 sales we have seen to cross the six figure threshold as of the 62nd day of 2026 is a pace that would reach a record of 1,372 by year’s end, another record.
Now, for the big guns. The million-dollar transactions.
- 2019: 1
- 2020: 9
- 2021: 43
- 2022: 41
- 2023: 11
- 2024: 7
- 2025: 29
After a big bounce-back year in 2025, 2026 is off to a blazing hot start, recording 7 already. That is on pace to clear 41 — nearly matching the all time high of 43 in 2021 — and we haven’t even hit the late Summer yet when we see the biggest concentration of massive deals.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.