Loupe Market Report — What’s the difference between a PSA 9 and 10?

One. It’s one.

Okay, Dad Joke aside, this week’s Loupe Market Report powered by SlabStox focuses on how the market reacts to the same card that has different grades. For instance, Trae Young’s rookie silver Prizm PSA 10 has a 97 percent better return on investment over the past year when compared to its PSA 9 counterpart. Luka Doncic’s silver Prizm PSA 10 is in a similar spot but with less dramatic results. The PSA 10 is up 25 percent over the PSA 9 in terms of ROI.

That’s not to say that buying gem mint is the only way to go. It’s just one of several factors. Scarcity will usually play a bigger role in determining value when it comes to those lower serial-numbered cards. But, when we’re talking about high pop counts, do your research to figure out whether that higher grade is likely to pay bigger dividends.

In our individual player segments, Giannis has had a rough go of it as of late. Despite the Bucks advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, Giannis’ rookie Prizm PSA 10 has pretty steadily declined all season long, and taken a big tumble over the past month. If you believe he’s one of the league’s best players, it’s the perfect time to buy the dip. In baseball, Wander Franco finally got his long-awaited big league callup. Franco has been the top prospect in baseball for a few years now; his MLB debut has the price of his 1st Bowman spiking. No surprise there. Lastly, our soccer report, it’s a tale of two cards as Erling Haaland’s 2019 Topps Finest rookie refractor looks like a much better investment than his 2019 Topps Chrome Bundesliga rookie card.

Thanks for watching another episode of Slabstox’s Loupe Marketplace Report. Just a quick reminder that we’re live on Loupe every Thursday answering your questions about the hobby. It starts at 6pm Eastern, so we hope to see you there!

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