A Market Growing 29% This Year… Sitting in Your Attic

In 2024, my youngest son came to me with an idea. He and his friends had been talking about trading cards (baseball, basketball, football, Pokémon, etc.)  and how people were making money selling them. He asked if we could try it. I figured it would be a fun little project, nothing serious.

I had no idea what we were stepping into.

As we started learning, I realized there’s an entire industry of people who buy and sell cards full-time. Some have even left their jobs to focus solely on this. Then I discovered something wild: a card my older son had about 15 years ago is now selling for $14,000.

Digging deeper, it all made sense. The market for trading cards has exploded. In 2025, overall card indices are way up; basketball cards rose about 29%, baseball around 17%, and several categories have surged. Even Pokémon cards spiked recently; some jumped 20% in a few months, and certain ones climbed over 150%. To provide a comparison, some trading-card categories have outperformed the S&P 500 (~10-12%).

It’s gotten so competitive GameStop now bans anyone caught weighing card packs, a trick scalpers use to detect rare pulls. And yes, I’ve seen people line up like it’s Black Friday just to be first to grab newly released cards… and I’ve seen the arguments that come with it.

So, here’s why I’m sharing this:

If you have old cards tucked away in drawers, closets, attics, or even your kids’ bunkbed storage; pull them out. As the economy is impacting everyone, there might be a little relief sitting in your kid’s toy chest.

When I started mentioning this to friends, many shared their old collections. My son and I helped look them up, and several were holding cards worth thousands of dollars without even knowing it.

But here’s the truth: money has never been the best part.

The real value has been the time with my son, the drives across Central Florida, the antique shops and card show, the strategy talks, the laughs, and trying to make up for the moments I missed far too often when I was focused on building my career. This hobby is one of our connections, and the memories we’re making are worth far more than any Michael Jordan rookie card.

With holidays coming, you might be sitting on a hidden treasure…but even more importantly, you might find a moment worth more than anything money can buy.