Let’s begin with a number that still hurts to look at if you missed the Hidden Fates boat. Once upon a time, the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box retailed for $50 USD when it dropped on September 20, 2019. Today, that exact same ETB sealed sells between $280 and $548 USD depending on where you […]
Hidden Fates: The Pokémon Set That Keeps Going Up – Our Investment Take Read More »
For a long time in the TCG hobby, the idea of calling trading cards an “asset class” would have been met with jokes and laughter, especially in most finance bro circles (spoiler: they are crying now that they didn’t invest). Cards were seen as a nerdy hobby or something you brought for your kids on
Are TCG Cards a Legitimate Alternative Asset Class? The Honest Answer Read More »
Here at The TCG Times we really try to approach every new TCG or collectible release with the same unbiased, factual, and researched framework. We look deep into it all from the Four Pillars, the weight of the IP, the publisher’s track record (good or bad), the community reception, and the honest question of whether
Why We Are Not Investing in VeeFriends Read More »
Oh yeah, we are doing it, trading cards vs. sneakers, cardboard gang vs the sneakerheads, TCG market vs. shoe market… okay, we’ll stop. If you ran a poll asking people to name the two collectible markets that most resemble each other, sneakers and trading cards would win comfortably in our opinion. Both share a lot
TCG Cards vs Sneakers: Which Market Actually Makes More Money? Read More »
Ask most Pokémon investors where the vintage investment opportunity (if you have a butt ton of capital that is) is and the answer is almost always some combination of Base Set, Neo Genesis, and Skyridge. First editions, gold stars and holographic rares from the WOTC era, the “blue chip stocks” of the hobby if you
The Pokémon EX Era: Is It Worth Investing In? Our Honest Take Read More »
Every TCG investor has felt it, we definitely have. That specific discomfort of watching a card you almost bought climb 40% in a week while you hesitated, yeah… we all should have bought bubble mew. Or possibly even worse, watching a card you did buy fall 30% over two months and not knowing whether to
TCG Market Cycles Explained: How to Read the Boom and Bust Pattern Read More »
Long ago, probably before you were even born, there was a set of nine cards in Magic: The Gathering that were so broken, they were banned from most formats before the first year of competitive play was even finished. Nine cards that have since spent more than three decades appreciating in value while being entirely
The Power Nine: Are They Actually Worth Investing in? Read More »
If you have made it this far, you’ve done the hard part (well done), built a collection worth some coin, identified the cards worth selling, and decided it is time to turn some cardboard into cash. Now comes the question most guides gloss over… where do you actually sell them? Because the platform you choose
Where to Sell Pokémon Cards in 2026: eBay vs TCGPlayer vs Local Shop vs Facebook Read More »
Most TCG investors think almost exclusively about what to buy and when to buy it, which is pretty fair. But a lot less apply the same analytical discipline to when to sell, and that asymmetry is quietly costing them money. The TCG secondary market has genuine, repeatable seasonal patterns that have held consistently across multiple
The Best Time of Year to Sell TCG Cards: A Seasonal Guide for Investors Read More »
To slab or not to slab, that is the question, and it is one of the most common questions in this hobby. Even better, it is one of the most consistently poorly answered ones. Imagine you pull a card that looks clean and crisp, someone in a forum/reddit/facebook tells you to get it graded, and
Is My Card Worth Grading? The Honest Answer for Every Budget Read More »
