Market cap here means the total value of every graded copy that exists at the top grade, not the price of one card. It is the same idea as a share price multiplied by shares outstanding: a cheap card printed in enormous numbers can outrank an expensive card that was almost never graded.
The formula
PSA 10 market cap = PSA 10 reference price × PSA 10 population.
The PSA 10 reference price is the price we hold for a single PSA 10 copy of that exact printing. The PSA 10 population is the count of copies PSA has graded 10 for that printing, taken from PSA's published population report.
Both sides of the multiplication must resolve for the same printing. If either side is missing or stale, the card shows a status instead of a number. We never substitute zero for a missing value, and we never carry a price across from a different language or a different print run.
Worked example
Using the card ranked #1 on the live index as of 2026-10-13:
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Card | 2023 Pokemon Svp EN-SV Black Star Promo Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat Pokemon X Van Gogh 085/SVP |
| PSA 10 reference price | $2,450 |
| PSA 10 population | 50,517 |
| PSA 10 market cap | $123,766,650 |
Price × population is the whole calculation. There is no smoothing factor, no float adjustment, and no editorial weighting on top of it.
Data sources and refresh cadence
Population comes from PSA's published population report for the specific printing, matched by set, card number, language and finish.
Prices come from graded-sale evidence for that same printing, collected daily and carried forward with an explicit observation date so you can always see how fresh a number is.
The published snapshot is rebuilt daily. Every card carries the date its price and population were observed, and pages show the effective date of the snapshot you are reading.
Non-USD figures are converted at the exchange rate recorded with the snapshot, so a currency switch never changes the underlying ranking.
What counts, and what is excluded
A printing is ranked once it has a verified PSA 10 population large enough to be statistically meaningful and a price we can stand behind. The lowest PSA 10 population among ranked cards is 1,004 as of 2026-10-13.
Each printing is ranked separately. The Japanese, English and Chinese releases of the same artwork are different rows, because they have different populations and different prices.
Cards where the price or population cannot be verified are held out of the ranking rather than estimated. Sealed product is tracked separately from single cards and does not enter the single-card market cap.
Why PSA 10 and not raw prices
A raw card has no verified supply. Nobody knows how many copies of a 1999 base-set card still exist, or what condition they are in, so raw price multiplied by print run is a guess dressed as a number.
A PSA 10 population is a counted, published figure that only moves in one direction as more copies are submitted. Pairing it with the price of that exact grade gives a market cap you can audit: both inputs are observable, and both are dated.
The trade-off is that PSA 10 market cap ignores value held in raw and lower-grade copies. It measures the top-grade market, not the entire hobby.
Limitations we will not hide
- Population reports lag reality. Cards graded this week appear in the report later, so a fast-rising modern card can be undercounted.
- Thinly traded cards have noisy prices. When a printing sells a handful of times a year, one unusual sale moves the market cap more than the market actually moved.
- Cracked and resubmitted cards inflate population counts, because a card that is graded, cracked out and regraded can be counted more than once.
- Market cap is not liquidity. Nobody could sell every PSA 10 copy of a card at the reference price; the figure measures scale, not cash value.
How this differs from price-only indexes
Most trading card trackers publish the price of one copy. A graded card market index multiplies that price by verified supply, which changes the ranking substantially.
| What it is | What it measures | Supply verified? |
|---|---|---|
| CardZ Marketcap | PSA 10 reference price × verified PSA 10 population | Yes, from PSA population reports |
| Price-only trackers | Last sale or average sale for one copy | No supply term at all |
| Crypto tokens named CARDS | Price of an unrelated digital asset | Not a trading card product |
A $30 card with 300,000 PSA 10 copies outranks a $30,000 card with 40. Price-only lists cannot show that, which is the entire reason this index exists.
CardZ Marketcap is a trading card price index. It is not a cryptocurrency, not a token, and not a listed company. There is no CardZ ticker, and this site is unrelated to the crypto asset traded as CARDS.
Versioning and changes
Every published snapshot carries a generation identifier and an effective date. The page you are reading was built from generation db3308_9f64ca7a7b55605d, effective 2026-10-13.
Methodology changes are applied going forward and noted here. We do not silently restate published history: if a definition changes, the change is described rather than backfilled.
Cite this page
If you quote these figures in an article, a video or a model answer, please cite the method and the date:
CardZ Marketcap, “How CardZ Marketcap calculates trading card market cap”, PSA 10 price × PSA 10 population, as of 2026-10-13.
Figures move daily. Citing the effective date tells readers which snapshot you used.
Methodology questions
What is trading card market cap?
Trading card market cap is the price of one PSA 10 copy multiplied by the number of PSA 10 copies that exist. It measures the total value of a card's top-grade supply rather than the price of a single copy.
How does CardZ Marketcap calculate Pokémon card market cap?
CardZ Marketcap multiplies the PSA 10 reference price of a specific Pokémon printing by that printing's verified PSA 10 population from PSA's population report. Prices and populations are refreshed daily and dated.
Why use PSA 10 population instead of print run?
Print runs are rarely published and surviving copies are unknown. PSA 10 population is counted and published, so it can be verified. Using it keeps both sides of the market cap calculation observable.
Does market cap mean the card is worth that much?
No. Market cap is the theoretical value of all PSA 10 copies at once. Selling them all at that price is impossible, so treat market cap as a measure of scale and supply, not of cash you could realise.
How often is the index updated?
The snapshot is rebuilt daily. Each card shows the observation date of its price and population, and each page shows the effective date of the snapshot, so you can tell exactly how fresh a figure is.
FAQ · Glossary · Data & API · Live rankings
