This reading is August 31 against August 24.
- Vintage basket: +0.4% (median of 114 cards; 54 up, 32 flat, 28 down)
- Modern basket: -0.1% (median of 112 cards; 32 up, 32 flat, 48 down)
How the index is built
Each basket takes twelve active sets and, within each, the ten most-traded cards. Vintage means 1999 to 2007 plus the promo series; modern means 2016 onward. Every card is priced by Rip Station's own engine from public comps, separately for every grader-and-grade lane. A card's weekly change is the average across its lanes; a set's reading is the median of its cards; the basket headline is the median of all cards. A flat reading means "no news," not "no demand."
Vintage sets
| Set | Index w/w | Basket |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set | +0.4% | 10 cards |
| Legendary Collection | +0.0% | 9 cards |
| Skyridge | +2.2% | 10 cards |
| XY-P Promotional cards | -0.2% | 10 cards |
| Expedition Base Set | +0.2% | 10 cards |
| EX Team Rocket Returns | +2.6% | 8 cards |
| EX Deoxys | +0.3% | 10 cards |
| Neo Destiny | +0.7% | 10 cards |
| EX Holon Phantoms | +1.5% | 9 cards |
| Team Rocket | -0.6% | 10 cards |
| Neo Genesis | +0.0% | 10 cards |
| EX Unseen Forces | +2.4% | 8 cards |
Modern sets
| Set | Index w/w | Basket |
|---|---|---|
| Evolutions | -0.6% | 6 cards |
| Ascended Heroes | -2.1% | 10 cards |
| Generations | -1.0% | 10 cards |
| Celebrations | -2.0% | 8 cards |
| Crown Zenith | -0.0% | 10 cards |
| Fates Collide | +0.0% | 9 cards |
| 151 | -0.1% | 10 cards |
| Paldea Evolved | -0.3% | 10 cards |
| BREAKpoint | +0.0% | 9 cards |
| Celebrations: Classic Collection | -0.0% | 10 cards |
| Pokémon Card 151 | -1.4% | 10 cards |
| Shining Legends | +2.6% | 10 cards |
Six weeks of readings
| Reading | Vintage | Modern |
|---|---|---|
| August 13 | +0.1% | -0.1% |
| August 17 | +0.2% | 0.0% |
| August 20 | +0.3% | 0.0% |
| August 24 | +0.2% | 0.0% |
| August 27 | +0.3% | -0.4% |
| August 31 | +0.4% | -0.1% |
Vintage has compounded about 1.6 percent since the first reading, never more than 0.4 percent in a week and never negative. That is a bid, not a rally, and it is getting slightly stronger: the three largest readings are the three most recent. The EX era (Team Rocket Returns, Unseen Forces, Deoxys, Holon Phantoms) has led in every week but one, and the Gold Star auctions are the reason. Modern has not managed a positive reading in six weeks; its two negative readings are the two most recent, and the sets being reprinted (Ascended Heroes) or overshadowed (Celebrations, three weeks before the 30th Celebration set) are the ones falling.
Movers
Up: a PSA 6 Unseen Forces Lugia from $40 to $165; a PSA 1 EX Deoxys Rayquaza holo from $51 to $200, the Gold Star aftershock reaching the bottom of the grade scale; a PSA 5 Legendary Collection Dark Blastoise from $30 to $74. Down: a PSA 1 Salamence ex (Deoxys) from $140 to $75, a CGC 8.5 Generations Zapdos from $72 to $36, and a PSA 9 Legendary Collection Snorlax from $125 to $104.
The Index ran in The Pack Report, August 31, 2026: The First Million-Dollar English Pokemon Card Is a Rayquaza. Published by Rip Station.