Pokémon Cards Are Beating the S&P 500 by 3,000% — and One Investor Thinks They Could Become Currency

One veteran investor and collector believes the next alternative asset hiding in plain sight is not gold, watches, vintage cars, or a Hermès Birkin bag, but could be sitting inside a Pokémon booster pack.

Peter Levin, founder of Santa Monica-based Griffin Gaming Partners and former CEO and co-founder of Nerdist Industries, owns more than 500,000 trading cards. His collection has survived market crashes, speculative bubbles, and the trading-card industry's notorious overproduction era.

Now he sees a market that has moved far beyond childhood nostalgia.

Levin says Pokémon cards are beating the S&P 500 by 3,000%, citing a Wall Street Journal assessment that described Pokémon cards as a 'hot investment' after their gains outpaced the benchmark index.

He goes further, highlighting that if an apocalypse wiped out the world's financial system, Pokémon cards could become the global currency.

Levin's obsession started when he was a child, buying baseball cards with his allowance. He later became a serious basketball-card collector and gained an inside view of the industry while working at CAA, which represented Topps.

The trading-card market suffered a major downturn after excessive production flooded the market during the 1990s.

Levin said scandals surrounding overproduction damaged the hobby before the industry eventually rebuilt itself. He bought through those downturns while trying to avoid speculative peaks.

Some estimates now put the annual trading-card market at around $50 billion, while Levin says the broader collectibles market exceeds $300 billion.

Pokémon Sparked a Global Revival

Pokémon helped turn trading cards from a largely hobbyist pursuit into a global phenomenon.

The franchise emerged from Japan and exploded internationally during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Levin describes a cycle of rapid growth, a subsequent market trough, and then a renewed, 'parabolic' rise. Importantly, Pokémon is no longer operating alone.

Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and One Piece have expanded the trading-card universe as well. Levin says One Piece is now growing faster than any card game in history, including Pokémon.

Magic: The Gathering has also transformed from a niche game launched in the early 1990s into a business approaching $2 billion a year for Hasbro, according to Levin. Its secret weapon has been intellectual property. A special The Lord of the Rings One Ring card in a Magic: The Gathering set sold for $2 million in 2023.

The Hollywood Strategy: Turn Fandom Into Cards

Trading cards are increasingly becoming a way for entertainment companies to monetise their biggest franchises.

Disney is working with Topps on Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars products, Hasbro on Marvel and Spider-Man versions of Magic, and Ravensburger on Disney Lorcana.

Even Warner Bros. has leaned into DC cards through Upper Deck, while other studios are also putting their IP into trading-card products.

That creates a potentially powerful formula: long-established characters plus nostalgia combined with scarcity and a physical product that fans can actually own.

Why Grading Changed the Game

For collectors, the condition of the asset can be the difference between a desirable card and a serious asset.

Professional grading companies, including PSA, CGC, and TAG, assess cards on a scale from one to 10. The graded card is then sealed inside a protective plastic slab, creating a standardised reference point for buyers and sellers.

Before widespread grading, two supposedly identical cards could command wildly different prices depending on the seller's description and the buyer's confidence.

Now, a grade can provide a common language for the market. TAG is taking that process further by using AI and machine learning in an effort to reduce subjectivity in grading.

For collectors, however, grading is not a guarantee of profit. Note that a high grade does not automatically make an ordinary card rare or desirable.

Levin's broader argument is that trading cards have crossed an important line. Grading and authentication have helped turn what was once sentiment-driven collecting into something closer to a standardised, tradable asset.

He also highlighted a demographic shift. Adults now account for just under 30% of global toy sales, according to Levin, with their spending rising 18% in 2025. That 'kidult' generation grew up with Pokémon, video games, and comics, and now has disposable income to spend on nostalgia.

That makes trading cards unusual as they can simultaneously function as entertainment, collectibles, and speculative assets.

What Collectors Should Watch For

For anyone entering the market, Levin's experience shows that one shouldn't confuse popularity with scarcity.

The industry's previous collapse was partly driven by oversupply. Buying large quantities simply because a franchise is popular can leave collectors exposed if production overwhelms demand.

Condition, rarity, authentication, provenance, and the strength of the underlying intellectual property all matter. So does liquidity. Levin regularly takes cards to major shows to establish their current market value and trades duplicates rather than simply chasing paper gains.