This reading is October 5 against September 28. Because the engine was paused from September 15 to September 30, the September 28 marks are the September 15 marks, so this reading measures the move since mid-September and overlaps Thursday's +5.2 percent. Thursday's reading is the first part of the move; the difference, roughly 1.6 points on the vintage headline, is the new ground since Thursday. From Thursday onward the comparisons are clean weekly ones again.
- Vintage basket: +6.9% vs September 15 marks (median of 116 cards; 89 up, 8 flat, 19 down)
- Modern basket: -3.2% vs September 15 marks (median of 112 cards; 36 up, 6 flat, 70 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 | +0.1% | 10 cards |
| Legendary Collection | +15.0% | 10 cards |
| Skyridge | +12.1% | 10 cards |
| XY-P Promotional cards | -0.2% | 10 cards |
| Expedition Base Set | +13.9% | 10 cards |
| EX Team Rocket Returns | +12.4% | 9 cards |
| EX Deoxys | +15.0% | 10 cards |
| Neo Destiny | +6.6% | 10 cards |
| EX Holon Phantoms | +6.8% | 9 cards |
| Team Rocket | -0.6% | 10 cards |
| Neo Genesis | +5.9% | 10 cards |
| EX Unseen Forces | +14.1% | 8 cards |
Modern sets
| Set | Index w/w | Basket |
|---|---|---|
| Evolutions | +12.0% | 6 cards |
| Ascended Heroes | -9.9% | 10 cards |
| Generations | -0.5% | 10 cards |
| Celebrations | -4.8% | 8 cards |
| Crown Zenith | -3.3% | 10 cards |
| Fates Collide | +8.2% | 9 cards |
| 151 | -4.2% | 10 cards |
| Paldea Evolved | -4.2% | 10 cards |
| BREAKpoint | -3.3% | 9 cards |
| Celebrations: Classic Collection | -3.4% | 10 cards |
| Pokémon Card 151 | -6.9% | 10 cards |
| Shining Legends | +0.6% | 10 cards |
Reading the week
Vintage is still absorbing September. Nine of twelve sets are up more than 5 percent against the pre-pause marks, and the two leaders tell the story of the last fortnight's auctions: Legendary Collection (+15.0 percent) on the reverse Charizard and reverse Pikachu, and EX Deoxys (+15.0 percent) on the Latias Gold Star Pristine, the Rocket's Raikou ex re-mark and the Japanese Rayquaza Gold Star on eBay. Only Base Set (+0.1 percent, after +3.1 on Thursday) and Team Rocket (-0.6 percent) did not add ground. Since August 13 the vintage basket is up roughly 11 percent.
Modern is now clearly falling: -3.2 percent against the pre-pause marks, with 70 of 112 cards lower. Ascended Heroes is down 9.9 percent over the window and has not had a positive reading since the Index began; the two 151 sets, Celebrations, Crown Zenith, Paldea Evolved and BREAKpoint are all lower. The two exceptions are the two 2016 sets built on vintage art, Evolutions (+12.0 percent) and Fates Collide (+8.2 percent). Three weeks after 30th Celebration launched with the friendliest pull rates of the modern era, this is what the sets beside it look like.
Movers
Up: a PSA 6 Team Rocket Returns Mudkip Gold Star from $6,070 to $14,600, the mid-grade catching up to the $1.02 million PSA 10; a PSA 10 EX Deoxys Sharpedo ex from $3,800 to $9,000; the PSA 10 XY-P promo Pikachu recovering from $20,001 to $32,400; the CGC 9.5 Generations Pikachu ($104 to $254). Down: a PSA 9 EX Deoxys Deoxys from $700 to $175 on a soft comp, a CGC 8.5 Team Rocket Dark Slowbro from $86 to $50, and a PSA 7 BREAKpoint All-Night Party from $85 to $40.
The Index ran in The Pack Report, October 5, 2026: A $780,000 Reverse Holo Pikachu, and Vintage Up Again. Published by Rip Station.