Nobody could have predicted the triumphant return of trading cards. 

Even though the US is now largely dominated by streaming and free-to-play sweeps casinos at the moment, trading cards have somehow made their way back into the culture, driven almost exclusively by Gen Z interest. 

eBay recently reported that collectible card games were the most-purchased secondhand product category among Gen Z Americans last year, while trading card sales on Walmart Marketplace shot up 200% between 2024 and 2025 following a huge spike in demand. 

It’s now even reached a point where ‘scalping’ has become a major issue, particularly in the Pokémon community, as seen by the wave of viral videos recently where scalpers and card collectors getting into fights with each other. 

Pokémon and Sports Trading Cards Continue to Outperform S&P 500

Perhaps the wildest aspect of all is that these trading cards have gotten so popular again that they’ve quickly become a viable long-term investment. 

As it stands, Pokémon and sports trading cards are outperforming the S&P 500, boasting upwards of a 46% annual return. 

This is causing a cultural snowball effect, as even non-trading card fans from both the Gen Z and Millennial generations don’t want to experience the dreaded FOMO and so have turned to collecting and reselling these cards as a side gig. 

The most recent data from Circana specifically reveals that 19% of US adults have purchased Pokémon trading cards over the past six months, either for collecting, displaying, or reselling purposes, with only a quarter of those buyers having actually played the game before. 

As seems to be the case with anything popular these days, even celebrities and influencers keep getting involved, including Logan Paul, who just recently sold an ultra-rare Pokémon trading card, the Pikachu Illustrator, for a record-breaking $16.5m (£12m) at auction. 

The sports cards market is booming as well, generating $1.36 billion in eBay sales during the first half of 2026, up 40% from the previous six months, according to GemRate’s most recently tracked figures. 

And all of the current projections for the global trading card game market forecast that the current trend is only going to continue, with the market expected to hit a value of $11.8bn by the time 2030 arrives. 

So, Why Are People Once Again Going Crazy for Trading Cards? 

There are several different factors behind the explosive rise of trading card games post-COVID. 

The first, and most obvious, is social media-driven obsession. These cards are all over TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at the moment, with card-opening videos in particular proving to be a major hit. Everybody wants to be the next person to rip open a trading card pack and bag themselves an ultra-rare collectible. 

On top of this, there’s the nostalgia factor. Millennials and older Gen Z’ers are extremely nostalgic for their childhoods and now have some disposable income to do something about it, which is why so many of them are diving into the past and splashing the cash. 

Then, of course, there’s the investment aspect of it all. A growing number of Pokémon cards and sports trading cards can yield significant returns if you hold onto them long enough, so people are jumping at the opportunity to own them. 

People sometimes forget that the current economy isn’t great, either, so a lot of young people are using trading cards as a way to make some extra money on the side and (in the case of a lucky few) strike gold and earn thousands of dollars. 

Off the back of this, mystery box websites from this original source, where you can open virtual card packs and have them shipped to your door, are pulling in millions of users. It’s a developing trend among Gen Z, who are instead now opening card packs online rather than purchasing them in-store, so this will likely be the go-to medium for card opening by the time the next decade arrives. 

Verdict 

The US economy is all over the place at the moment, leading to some volatile and unpredictable consumer behaviours. 

One of them, undoubtedly, has been the Gen Z trading card boom, which has experienced unbelievable growth since 2024 and shows zero signs of ever slowing down. 

Everybody has a smartphone now, but that passion and drive for physical collectibles is so deeply embedded in the culture that you just can’t stop it from rising to the surface each new generation. 

For now, at least, millions of Americans are going to keep spending unspeakable amounts of money on these card packs, with the more wholesome collectors doing it for the love of cards and others, many of whom are ‘scalpers’, treating it as a pure investment opportunity. 

You can do it, too, but make sure you know what you’re buying. 

And in the case of Pokémon, be conscious that for each new drop, you might have to wake up early in the morning to beat scalpers.