Buying and selling sports cards for the right price is always tricky to navigate.
And while most casual collectors can be easily swayed by big news or individual moments, the card market has a long cyclical history the savviest collectors often use to their advantage.
There’s no right or wrong way to collect, but there are also clear buying and selling seasons across the major sports that buyers and sellers regularly leverage.
Here’s a breakdown of some of those key buying or selling windows on the calendar.
Buying and selling seasons
For many players and sports, card pricing is largely cyclical. Prices are often highest during the season when players are performing well and lowest during the offseason when they aren’t active at all.
This cycle often leads many of the savviest collectors to buy only during the offseason, when prices are lowest, and sell during the season, when they stand to make the most profit.
Seasonal trends aren’t foolproof, but a high-level view of some of the more popular cards can show the ebbs and flows of a given market just by the date on the calendar.
As football season quickly closes in, it’s easy to spot the seasonality through a player such as Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Among the most transacted players on the secondary market, Daniels’ most popular graded card over the last six months has been his 2024 Prizm Base PSA 10, with more than 1,100 sales logged by Market Movers.
When analyzing that card’s market over the last 180 days, the average price peaked around $190 back on Feb. 22, about two weeks after the season ended Feb. 9. That card eventually touched its low average of about $76 in the middle of the offseason June 6, but has slowly crept back up to its current average of about $88.
These peaks and valleys don’t typically occur drastically, especially for high-volume cards, but planning buying or selling tendencies around them can make a difference.
Navigating the prospecting timeline
The act of prospecting is an important part of the hobby. Most associated with baseball, some collectors enjoy speculating on minor-league prospects early with the hopes they rise in value as they approach the MLB roster.
These gambles can deliver the biggest financial gains when selling, but also the biggest losses.
A key to baseball prospecting is understanding when players have their greatest value. No, it’s typically not when they’ve been playing well for the major-league club. It’s actually often when they’ve been named to their first Opening Day roster or been called up for the first time.
At their call-up, players could be anything — the next Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron. Once their MLB career begins, however, reality takes hold and the players become, more than likely, not the Mick or Hammerin' Hank.
Take Kansas City Royals superstar prospect Jac Caglianone, for example. Caglianone’s most popular graded card over the last six months has been his 2024 1st Bowman Draft Chrome Draft Picks Autograph PSA 10 with more than 120 sales, according to Market Movers.
That card’s average price over that time period peaked at $1,263 on June 3 — the day he made his debut for the Royals — but has since collapsed closer to $500 in the weeks since. Since making his debut, Caglianone has slashed just .147/.205/.280 in 150 at-bats for Kansas City.
For top prospects, the end of spring training can be a critical moment, as they learn where they’ll play next season. Other prospects can be called up later in the season as rosters expand.
Casual collectors are often inspired to scoop up these prospects right as they land on the major-league roster, and that’s often when the savviest hobbyists are looking to sell.
Postseason surge and falloff
A deep postseason run or championship win can be a major turning point for many players. The best players typically have strong prices regardless of team success, but that first title can sometimes reset the market, and the run-up to it can be a large window for buying or selling.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s run to the NBA title this year is a good example of how that first championship can raise the bar.
According to Card Ladder’s player index, Gilgeous-Alexander’s market peaked at its all-time high with a value of 33,708 on June 9, the day after Oklahoma City won Game 2 of the NBA Finals to even the series against Indiana 1-1.
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder would win the title June 22, but by June 27, his market had already started its offseason descent. Its most recent position, recorded by Card Ladder on Aug. 19, was down to 28,864.
Though winning a title is the most desirable outcome, it also signals the end of the season, which results in fans and collectors alike typically shifting focus to other sports or interests.
Despite the near-immediate fall, Gilgeous-Alexander’s market has been reshaped following the 2025 season, and has nearly tripled after starting at a value of 10,265 for the start of the regular season in October 2024.
The award season — whether it’s MVPs or Hall of Fame inductions — can sometimes be a factor, though many of the best athletes often have some of those accolades already cooked into their card prices.
For many collectors, winning an award doesn’t resonate because there is already the perception a player is worthy.
Josh Allen, the most recent NFL MVP, is a decent example of this. Allen’s market, according to Card Ladder, had a value of 11,368 on Feb. 9, just three days after winning his first NFL MVP. Rather than immediately increase, Allen’s market actually decreased over the following weeks — right as the league entered its offseason — and didn’t start its current ascent until early April.
For many Allen fans, the award was more of a formality than a significant change in sentiment.
On the surface, major awards and championships seem like important markers for a player’s market, but the often immediate falloff can quickly undo any recent market growth.
Because of this dynamic, savvy collectors might sell cards during playoff runs or quickly after award wins to capture the most profit possible, before eventually buying back into the same cards at a lower price during the offseason.
Understanding the death bump
Buying cards of athletes who recently died is a normal and common practice. Selling those cards for large profits is a little less respected, however.
Regardless of any moral position, important players will often see a large surge in interest immediately before or after a death. The urge to celebrate those players in the moment can be strong, but historical data shows it’s best to wait.
A recent study from third-party grading tracker GemRate found two of the most popular athletes on eBay in July were stars who had recently passed away.
Hulk Hogan, the famed wrestler who died July 24, saw an increase in $840,000 in sales month-over-month compared to July.
Beloved Chicago Cubs star Ryne Sandberg, who died July 28, saw an increase of $336,000 month-over-month compared to June.
Card collecting is a popular way to celebrate the life of a beloved athlete, though buyers are best served waiting to add to their collection.
Trades, signings and other key events
Blockbuster trades or free-agency signings can often reshape the market for a player’s key cards, for better or for worse. No trade in recent memory was more shocking than the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks swapping Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis last season, and the move had an immediate impact on Dončić.
Prior to the trade on Feb. 2, Dončić’s key 2018 Prizm Base PSA 10 was trending around $180, according to Market Movers. That card sold 68 times for an average of $290 on the day of the trade, for a 59% jump in roughly 24 hours.
The offseason has helped that card settle back to around $185, but it wasn’t hard to see how a move to a bigger market alongside LeBron James could immediately benefit one of the league’s best and most popular players.
For buyers, the urge to immediately snag key cards during these moments can be difficult to resist. For sellers, these events present opportunities to, as previously mentioned, sell at a high before buying back at a lower price down the line.
Trade season can have a significant impact in the card market, and the savviest collectors are often sitting out or selling for a profit.
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.