UltraBall counts 525 Pokémon card sales of $100,000 or more in 2026, $162.3 million through Oct 16, with two venues handling three quarters of them
UltraBall Research's study of this year's Pokémon card sales (published October 17, data fixed as of October 16) counts 525 cards sold for $100,000 or more between January 1 and October 16, $162,319,302 in all with the buyer's premium included. Nineteen of them cleared $1 million, every one on or after February 16, and 53 cleared $500,000. Of the 525, 406 were PSA 10s and 28 were PSA 9s. The top of the list is the PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator at $16,492,000 at Goldin on February 16, which UltraBall puts at twice the next-biggest sale.
The timing is the finding the headline hides. UltraBall counts 360 of the 525 sales, worth $104,003,310, since September 1. That is 69% of the year's six-figure sales and 64% of its dollars in six and a half weeks.
Where the money went
| Venue | Sales | Total | Coverage caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fanatics Collect | 261 | $67,060,999 | Full depth from February, thin in January |
| Alt | 135 | $36.1M | Data only from July 19 |
| Goldin | 75 | $44,010,212 | January 5 to October 12 |
| eBay | 45 | $6.21M | Feeds near complete from June; 14 were fixed-price or accepted offers |
| Heritage Auctions | 9 | $8.99M | January 14 to August 19; Illustrator sales from Heritage's announcements |
Fanatics and Alt together account for 396 of the 525 sales and about $103.2 million, roughly 64% of the money, and Alt's share was built in under three months of coverage. Goldin's average is the highest, about $587,000 a sale against about $257,000 at Fanatics and $267,000 at Alt, because the $16,492,000 Illustrator alone is more than a third of its total.
Which eras sold
| Era (English cards) | Sales | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Wizards of the Coast, 1999–2003 | 169 | $39.7M |
| EX era, 2003–2007 | 101 | $22.1M |
| Diamond & Pearl and Platinum, 2007–2010 | 54 | $11.4M |
| HeartGold & SoulSilver and Black & White, 2010–2013 | 31 | $6.94M |
| XY onwards, 2014– | 12 | $2.26M |
The era table leaves out 108 Japanese cards, one card in another language and 49 English cards UltraBall could not place in a set. Twelve sales from sets printed since 2014 against 169 from the Wizards era is the shape of the six-figure market: it is a vintage market with a Japanese promo tier on top.
The top ten
| # | Card | Grade | Price | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pikachu Illustrator (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $16,492,000 | Goldin | Feb 16 |
| 2 | Raincoat Pikachu (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $8,400,000 | Fanatics Collect | Sept 28 |
| 3 | Pikachu Illustrator (Japanese) | PSA 9 | $5,000,000 | Heritage | Sept 19 |
| 4 | Art Academy Mudkip (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $3,720,000 | Fanatics Collect | Sept 25 |
| 5 | Pikachu Illustrator (Japanese) | CGC 9 | $2,806,271 | Goldin | Sept 20 |
| 6 | Torchic Gold Star (Team Rocket Returns) | PSA 10 | $2,700,000 | Alt | Sept 10 |
| 7 | Bronze Trophy Pikachu (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $1,769,000 | Goldin | May 18 |
| 8 | Typhlosion (1st Edition Neo Genesis) | PSA 10 | $1,549,690 | Alt | Oct 8 |
| 9 | Pikachu Illustrator (Japanese) | PSA 9 | $1,406,250 | Heritage | Mar 28 |
| 10 | Charizard (1st Edition Base Set) | PSA 10 | $1,385,274 | Alt | Oct 8 |
Four of the ten are the same card, the Illustrator, at three grades, and seven of the ten closed in September or October.
How UltraBall counts
Every figure is what the buyer paid with premium. Goldin hammer prices are multiplied by 1.22, or 1.24 for its February Pokémon auction; Fanatics' October 12 weekly was held at hammer with 20% added, and earlier weeks are hammer times 1.2; Alt, Fanatics and PSA records already include the premium. A sale reported by several sources is counted once, matched by listing or by card, grade and price within three days.
Two choices shape the total. First, 37 Alt lots worth $11,723,460 had closed but were not yet paid when UltraBall read the data, and the study counts them as sold. Second, UltraBall set aside 69 records of $100,000 or more it did not trust, among them an eBay Charizard PSA 10 recorded at $1,924,572, excluded because the same PSA cert sold for $2,100 on June 9. Multi-card lots, eBay offers with no stated amount, fixed-price sales above ten times the card's auction high, private sales and Japanese marketplaces are all out. A missing sale lowers the count; it never raises a price.
What it means for the market
The $162.3 million is a floor on the public six-figure market and a ceiling on what has been paid. About $11.7 million of it, 7% of the total, is Alt lots that were unpaid when counted, and the Fanatics figure carries no payment check at all, since Fanatics' paid flags are not part of UltraBall's method. The PSA 10 share, 406 of 525, says the premium is for the grade as much as the card; two of the 28 PSA 9s in the set are Illustrators in the top ten.
Two venues, six weeks and one grade account for most of the year's money, and the sales that set the comps for every other copy are the ones most likely to be pending.
What to watch next
- Goldin's Pokémon 30th Anniversary auction closes October 25; its lead lot stood at $2,348,500 with premium on October 8, per Star City Games, and would enter this list at No. 7.
- Alt's 37 unpaid lots and Fanatics' unpaid October results, which decide how much of the $162.3 million was paid.
Figures are as reported by the sources below on the dates shown. This is market data and commentary, not investment advice.
Sources
- UltraBall Research, The biggest Pokémon card sales of 2026 so far: 525 sales over $100K, Oct 17, 2026
- Great Reporter, A $16.5M Pikachu Illustrator leads 525 six-figure Pokémon card sales, Oct 20, 2026
- Star City Games, Vintage Pokémon TCG Pikachu promo heads to auction, Oct 8, 2026