PSA graded 2.64 million items in 30 days, up 16%, while its backlog fell from a 12.4 million peak to 8.2 million

GemRate's PSA Grading Trends panel, updated October 15, shows 2,642,498 items graded in the trailing 30 days, up 16% from 2,259,876 in the 30 days before. The daily average over the past 30 days is 88,083, against 75,329 for the prior 30, and GemRate puts the recent pace at 31.5 million items graded a year. The trailing seven days came in at 592,617, down 8% from 645,510; PSA graded 114,706 items on October 14 and 122,993 the day before.

The counts cover every PSA category, sports cards included, not Pokémon alone. A day earlier the same panel read 2,633,421 for the trailing 30 days, up 21%, so the 30-day figure is still rising while the week-on-week comparison has turned down.

The backlog, by date

PSA reported 8.2 million units awaiting grading as of October 6, down from 9 million on September 22, per Sports Collectors Daily's October 7 notes column. PureGrail's running account of the backlog, published October 7 and updated October 14, fills in the earlier points:

That is a fall of about 4.2 million units, or roughly 34%, from the July peak, per PureGrail, which puts PSA about 3.2 million units above the roughly 5 million target it set. At the 88,083-a-day pace GemRate reports, PSA is grading about 616,000 items a week; PureGrail's own illustration, which it labels an illustration and not a forecast, uses about 400,000 units a week of net reduction and lands on early December for the 5 million mark.

How the queue got there

PSA paused all four Value tiers, Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus and Value Max, on June 2, after a 20% spike in submissions added about 1.6 million cards to the active queue, per PureGrail. Under the February pricing those tiers ran $24.99 to $64.99; Value Bulk's minimum had already risen from 20 to 50 cards on May 18, with a quoted turnaround of 140 to 160 business days.

The phased reopening began September 14 with a new $59.99 Standard tier, per Sports Collectors Daily; PureGrail, citing Heavy, lists Standard at 90 to 100 business days with a $1,000 maximum insured value, Priority at $79.99 and 70 to 80 business days, and Express at $199, up from $149 on September 9. PSA has not said when any Value tier reopens or on what terms, and PureGrail notes that reaching 5 million is not an automatic trigger.

What it means for the market

Every item in those 2.64 million adds a line to a population report, and the population is the denominator in every graded price. The Art Academy Pikachu that sold for $1,037,000 at Goldin on October 11 (No. 004) was priced against a PSA 10 count of 57, and the red-dot Typhlosion against 13; a month of grading at 88,000 a day is where the next change in those counts comes from. The volume also feeds the auction calendar: Goldin's Pokémon week ending October 12 ran 336 lots for $2,036,444, per What The Slab, and the week before 395 lots.

The cheapest tiers are the ones still closed, so the cards entering the census at today's pace are the ones whose owners paid $59.99 or more to grade them. When Value grading returns, the submissions that have waited since June arrive on top of the current rate.

Figures are as reported by GemRate (updated Oct 15, 2026, all PSA categories), Sports Collectors Daily (Oct 7) and PureGrail (Oct 7, updated Oct 14, citing Heavy for tier terms). Population counts are as stated by Chase Society in No. 004. This is market data and commentary, not investment advice.

Sources

• GemRate, PSA Grading Trends panel, updated Oct 15, 2026
• Sports Collectors Daily, Notes: PSA backlog falls to 8.2 million; Heritage hires modern cards VP, Oct 7, 2026
• PureGrail, When will PSA Value grading return, and should you wait, Oct 7, 2026 (updated Oct 14)
• What The Slab, Pokémon card auction report (Goldin, week ending Oct 12), updated Oct 14, 2026