Buying and selling playing cards of the sport “Magic” are situated in a store the place a “Magic” event is happening.
Frank Rumpenhorst | image alliance | Getty Photos
As screentime soars and know-how races forward, a low-tech pastime is again in a giant manner: accumulating buying and selling playing cards.
The cardstock depicting the whole lot from NFL standouts to Pokémon and even Taylor Swift is among the hottest toy classes in shops this yr. Huge-box retailers are stocking up forward of the vacations, anticipating that demand will lengthen past conventional toy patrons like kids and collectors.
“We see buying and selling playing cards being a sizzling gifting class for all ages that we are going to gasoline with newness and with unique drops,” Rick Gomez, Goal’s govt vice chairman and chief business officer, instructed CNBC. “We’ll have new releases practically each week through the holidays that is going to drive demand. And these make for excellent items and nice stocking stuffers.”
Strategic buying and selling card gross sales — which exclude sports activities — are up 103% year-to-date by means of August, whereas non-strategic card gross sales, which are typically collectible popular culture or sports activities playing cards, are up 48%, in accordance with market analysis agency Circana.
Goal’s buying and selling card gross sales are up practically 70% year-to-date, with annual income from the class anticipated to high $1 billion.
Gross sales on some on-line platforms are rising even sooner. Walmart Market reported a 200% soar in buying and selling card gross sales from February 2024 to June 2025, with Pokémon gross sales up greater than tenfold year-over-year throughout the identical interval, the corporate first instructed Axios. The retailer has even launched a brand new weekly influencer livestream collection centered on sports activities collectibles.
Since 2021, strategic card gross sales have grown by $891 million, or 139%, to whole $1.5 billion, in accordance with Circana. Gross sales of non-strategic playing cards and collectible stickers climbed by $565 million, or 156%, to $925 million in the identical interval, Circana stated.
Millennials and Gen Z clients have been essential for development, stated Juli Lennett, vice chairman and trade advisor for Circana’s U.S. toys apply.
“Plenty of adults are shopping for these as a result of it brings them again to a time once they had no cares on the planet,” Lennett stated. “It is an reasonably priced luxurious with the financial system proper now. Some could not afford playing cards as youngsters and now they’ve their very own cash and nobody’s there to say ‘no’.”
Some patrons additionally deal with playing cards like different investments. By way of August, the worth of Pokémon playing cards has delivered a cumulative return of three,821% since 2004, in accordance with an index by analytics agency Card Ladder, the Wall Avenue Journal reported. To fight on-line resellers, many shops now restrict purchases to 2 packs per buyer.
Whereas the buying and selling card class has boomed this yr, not everyone seems to be satisfied the phase will increase gross sales through the peak vacation purchasing season. Throughout the previous six months, 19% of adults stated they bought Pokémon playing cards for themselves, signaling they is probably not shopping for them for others within the weeks forward, in accordance with Circana.
“There was regular development within the class, however a big chunk of patrons are buying for themselves. There is not as a lot gifting right here as you see in different toys,” Lennett stated.
Pokemon playing cards launched in 1999
Yvonne Hemsey | Hulton Archive | Getty Photos
A year-round rush
What buying and selling playing cards might lack in vacation aptitude, they make up for in consistency.
Playing cards stand other than most toy classes in two key methods: they’re steadily self-purchased and never “tremendous seasonal,” Lennett stated.
“Playing cards promote simply as effectively in March or July as they do in December,” she stated. “That makes them very enticing to retailers attempting to offset seasonal threat.”
Goal, which frequently will get a bump from merchandise tied to holidays, has tried to capitalize on the year-round fervor for playing cards.
“We expanded our assortment. We elevated the variety of drops that we have now. We put buying and selling playing cards in a extra distinguished place in retailer, did bolder shows and the enterprise has responded,” Gomez stated. “We do not see the enterprise slowing and we see it persevering with to develop in recognition.”
Pokémon stays the class’s high performer, with card gross sales topping $1 billion final yr — it is the primary toy model to hit that milestone within the U.S., in accordance with Circana. Sports activities playing cards are additionally rising in popularity, notably amongst teen boys, with NFL packs main the cost.
“A variety of totally different individuals are coming in to purchase. You’ve got your grownup collector who’s shopping for for themselves, however we additionally see a number of households coming in with youngsters requesting them and asking their dad and mom for buying and selling playing cards,” Gomez stated. “It is an incredible reward for folks, for teenagers, particularly in the event that they know that they are into sports activities or Pokémon.”
Whereas up to date releases are booming throughout individuals aged eight to twenty-eight, classic playing cards — usually pre-Nineteen Seventies — have not linked as strongly with Gen Z and Gen Alpha collectors.
“Nearly all of my clients aren’t searching for classic,” Matthew Winkelried, CEO of New York-based Bleecker Buying and selling, instructed CNBC. “Youthful individuals do not need to dig by means of Nineteen Sixties playing cards until they see a Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron. Plus, the shortage and worth of classic playing cards make it a tricky entry level.”
Topps buying and selling playing cards are organized for {a photograph} in Richmond, Virginia.
Jay Paul | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Altering clients
After a near-collapse within the Nineties as a consequence of overproduction, the buying and selling card trade has rebounded. Progress has been notably sturdy for the reason that pandemic, propelled by a mix of nostalgia, neighborhood and, for some, funding potential.
For a lot of, playing cards supply a way of belonging — whether or not it is exchanging playing cards or enjoying a sport like Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering.
“You continue to have the sport gamers, and that is a extremely tight-knit neighborhood,” stated Jason Howarth, senior vice chairman of promoting and athlete relations at Panini America, which provides sports activities playing cards to retailers like Goal and Walmart. “Amongst sports activities followers, there’s an enormous sense of camaraderie round buying and selling. And with Pokémon too, I’ve heard sport nights nonetheless play a serious function in maintaining that ecosystem alive.”
For these seeking to playing cards as a retailer of worth, Pokémon playing cards usually show to be a stronger funding than their sports activities counterparts, stated Winkelried of Bleecker Buying and selling.
“Possibly a extremely touted rookie joins the league, and you purchase their card early hoping it’s going to rise in worth,” he stated. “The worth can change week to week. It is unstable like a inventory.”
He added: “Pokémon is sort of a commodity. Pikachu cannot tear an ACL or get a DUI. Provide is proscribed, so the market is extra secure.”
Trying previous the vacations, main retailers are specializing in constructing the class’s long-term future. Goal is betting on unique units, restricted specialty drops and drawing a extra numerous client base.
“We’re reaching not solely breadth of age with buying and selling playing cards, but additionally gender,” Gomez stated.
That course of is already underway. The WNBA is now one of many fastest-growing segments in sports activities playing cards, notably amongst younger women.
And with the 2026 FIFA World Cup spanning the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, soccer is poised to surge subsequent.
“Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese have accomplished wonders for the WNBA buying and selling card enterprise,” Howarth stated. “As soon as it hits June, the U.S. market goes to be taken over by soccer. Followers already know the worldwide stars like Messi, however with the World Cup being held right here, at the very least 4 or 5 gamers will skyrocket in recognition and get acknowledged.”
