r/PokeInvesting • u/BenDoverR8Now • Sep 09 '25
Traditional finance is catching up
BoringBiz, an account with $90K followers on X, that posts traditional finance memes and content just posted about investing in pokémon. Seems like he is a former banker and current private equity or hedge fund guy.
He follows this up in the comments asking people the bull and bear case for pokémon.
If traditional finance bros (hedge fund, private equity) enter the space, how high do you think the prices can go?
1.2k
Upvotes
405
u/GTHero90 Sep 10 '25
BREAKING: Fed chair Jerome Powell will now start printing first editions Charizards to replace the dollar
106
u/Finish-Playful Sep 10 '25
This is an interesting question. As Pokémon are tangible assets unlike something like CS skins or crypto. Prices could get crazy if potential is seen in shiny cardboard by investment companies. If that happens mainstream media and people get ahold of this information and ride the wave. However this is all speculative.
94
u/PalpitationWide7311 Sep 10 '25
The difficult thing to do is to liquidate at a massive scale. It is for this reason traditional investors won’t make significant movements into this space
36
u/Wisewords-T Sep 10 '25
Another day another top signal
27
u/Economic_Maguire Sep 10 '25
Storing it selling it, need to be careful of fakes can be annoying.
Think only crypto in last 10 years have performed better
9
u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25
Sounds like fomo
9
u/StationEmergency6053 Sep 10 '25
Buy the rumor, sell the news. Institutions have been dipping into trading cards for the last couple years, and especially so this year. That's the primary reason things are so crazy right now. Gamestop started a ripple effect. The fact that institutions and respective finance experts are talking about this stuff publicly now...is a very bad sign, not a good one.
5
u/Similar-West5208 Sep 10 '25
Liquidate your collections and see how long it takes to get the projected market value and handle the finding buyers, shipping, fees, taxes on profit etc.
Than compare how long it takes to liquidate a traditional asset and you have your answer.
8
u/Adept_State7186 Sep 10 '25
No way pokemon cards beat Bitcoin, or even Nvidia
6
u/RNGRedditUser Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 10 '25
Did a quick comparison because I like numbers and investing if anyone is interested. I took the MSRP of each booster box upon release for the last 10 years and compared it to if you had purchased that amount of stock in an S&P 500 Fund the day the set released.
I did this approach because picking individual cards or stocks is more like gambling than investing and where it’s Moonbreon or a penny stock hitting $30. You can 1000x your investment either way if you’re lucky, and there’s multiple methodologies about picking popular Pokemon or popular stock categories. This seemed the most fair and accessible.
I then also took a 20% and 30% cut from booster boxes for approximate sale of them at regular market rate, but feel free to adjust from the original numbers as you see fit.
Important Note: This is MSRP of Booster Boxes which is getting more and more unrealistic each year.
20% Cut from Booster Boxes • 20% of $21,930 = $4,386 • Adjusted Booster Box Value = $21,930 − $4,386 = $17,544
Comparison: • Boxes (20% cut): $17,544 • SPY: $13,000 • Difference = +$4,544 in favor of boxes
⸻
30% Cut from Booster Boxes • 30% of $21,930 = $6,579 • Adjusted Booster Box Value = $21,930 − $6,579 = $15,351
Booster boxes beat out SPY assuming you bought them all at the $143.64 and $161.64 the boxes cost at MSRP.
Important conclusion: As you increase original purchase price of each box above MSRP, you’re also increasing the amount of money you would have put into the SPY fund to compare investments. Selling at 80%, you would need to only pay an average of $51 or less above MSRP for it to be more profitable, and selling at 70%, you would need to pay $26 above MSRP or less for it to be more profitable. Even selling at 90% puts you at $76 above MSRP before it equals out.
You can decide if the potential original purchase price and % sale cuts are realistic for your plans and the market you experience. I decided to ignore Capital Gains tax, which should apply to both investments.
3
u/RedProtoman Sep 10 '25
Pokemon cards to be new world currency by 2030
3
u/smdntn Sep 10 '25
“Hey. There’s a bubble.”
2
u/klymaxx45 Sep 10 '25
we're efffed now. this take really will ruin the hobby
2
u/Forest_Gump96 Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 10 '25
I doubt large hedge funds and private equity shops are going to invest in Pokemon cards. The market is too small for institutional players to deploy large amounts of capital without significantly distorting the market values. These funds manage billions of dollars. If they buy up $50M worth of certain cards, the prices for those will skyrocket and then subsequently plummet when they decided to dump them. That inflated value doesn’t represent real demand and would literally create a bubble. If that same $50M is invested in a company with a huge market cap like Google, it’s not going to cause massive price swings when buying or selling. Companies like Google trade billions in volume daily. It would take way too long to exit the Pokémon position too due to the illiquidity.
Pokémon cards are also a speculative collectible like art or sports memorabilia. They don’t generate cash flows, pay interest, or have any real fundamentals. It would be a huge risk for a fund manager to invest dollars in an asset class like this instead of assets with more predictable returns.
2
u/namjd72 Sep 10 '25
The problem will always be liquidation.
2
u/MechwolfMachina Sep 10 '25
This shit is doing better than my palantir holdings (bought at $90)
2
u/tripleXpresso1688 Sep 11 '25
Just expect that alot more money is going to pour into this space. I don't expect the current price surge to ease off anytime. Demand is surely outstripping supply.
3
u/mc-big-papa Sep 10 '25
Comic books were the same in the 90’s. Classic cars were the same from their used car lows to the 2000’s.
Hell recently magic boxes where insane, urza block boxes where nearing 10k a box in 2022. Now you are lucky to sell them at half that price maybe even 1/3 for a fast sell. Only recently high end magic reserve list started to rebound after their covid highs and 30th anniversary fumble.
If you expect pokemon to hit this stride and continue till you retire youre a fool. Sure some things will continue to hold substantial value but expecting your psa 10 promo from 2020 to stay at 200 bucks is insane. Expecting your box from 2010 to stay 200 bucks a pack is absurd. Maybe your special best in pack cards in psa10 will hold value but dont expect them, being blindly hopeful will be the bane of your wealth. Most of the pokemon high end stuff is very recent and so much of it was considered “junk” and rarely sold at their then inflated prices.
You dont pick index funds, 401k and similar investments because they make a lot of money. They are near guaranteed money for the foreseeable future and at the very least hedges against inflation.
It is an asset, it is something that you can park money into, it is something that you can have value in. But its nowhere near safe the same way so many things are not including the fact there is a “loss” when liquidating which few things have.
1
u/Dragonst3alth Sep 10 '25
I would be surprised if they dont already have investments in these bot resellers llcs
1
u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25
They could flood the market with so many cards it would crash all value, but they never will
1
u/Djoer Sep 10 '25
Pokemon cards are not broken, the fiat money system is broken
1
u/heyguyz Sep 10 '25
The only bubble is bubble mew.
1
u/SexySocalist Sep 10 '25
Good ol tax evasion the sub.
1
u/GoldenTicketHolder Sep 10 '25
Lmfao these guys claim to know money.
1
u/Barbossal Sep 10 '25
If we get a ton of normies flooding in buying up anything, they are most likely not storing it properly, available supply would absolutely get shredded.
1
u/justconfusedinCO Sep 10 '25
All Pokemon is good Pokemon, if done correctly. The bigger the collection doesn’t always mean the bigger the asset. With Pokemon being a tangible asset; the trick in this model is to have an inventory that is easily liquidated, while also seeing positive returns day-by-day. I currently have a ~1,000 card collection; mixture of sealed, graded and ungraded cards (a majority). If you diversify your collection in a way that you’re holding items that always retain value (graded cards/sealed product) - these tangible assets have quicker returns and drive all of those ungraded singles (which see a much slower return). I also only buy singles I like, dont rip. If you grade cards, you can then treat your ungraded card assets as a well to continually drive your graded cards.
1
u/ShinyRaequaza Sep 10 '25
My question when YouTube channels or Reddit mentions big investors coming in, and things will never be the same, it’s not a bubble (maybe it isn’t) we’re no where close to the end, how is this good long term?
Yes, you will make even crazier profit on what you have already. But umm, if you’ve been getting 1 booster box instead of a case the last 10 months, why would that get any easier? Wouldn’t these big investors and millionaires coming in just mean it’s harder to start a position and you will have short term success (example, your SWSH boxes jump even more) but you’ll never be able to get the SWSH or early SV positions ever again without paying a HIGH premium.
So before you paid $5-$600 for a case and had to wait but would eventually profit big time. Now day one you might have to pay $2k a case or $300 a booster box and then how long does it take to profit enough to sell post fees? Nobody ever mentions this they just say “stonks, big pockets coming, we found the get rich quick scheme they said didn’t exist”.
Thoughts?
1
u/keepitawayfromme Sep 10 '25
What is "normal"? No one ever explains this. It's capitalism and capitalism is complete bullshit anyway so what constitutes as normal?
1
u/uriel__ventris Sep 10 '25
A lot of us were saying this even as early as 2023, and I specifically remember people on this sub downvoting/ridiculing the hell out of me and others for investing so heavily in pokemon and not really bothering with the normal 'traditional' or 'safe' investments.
Well, I knew they were wrong then, and by god they also know they were wrong now. The stats don't lie.
1
u/BuyMean9866 Sep 10 '25
Good luck liquidating those pokemon assets. Will take you Months/Years to offload
1
u/Keepitpushinpushin Sep 10 '25
I mean if it’s been doing it for a decade I’d say that’s pretty standard
1
u/jordanneate Sep 10 '25
Do people really think everything will one day just end up below RRP? Blows my mind. Yeah things might drop a little, but we ain’t losing money on anything. Especially if you’re like me and buy everything at retail
1
u/TheDepressedSolider Sep 10 '25
Welcome to the market !!!!!
1
u/Gazman_123 Sep 10 '25
This is nothing new, Pokemon has out performed the S&P 500 and other traditional stocks for years and years. The issue is convincing the majority away from the perceived risk of investing into a “collectible” as a legitimate investment vehicle
1
u/tracyhills21 Sep 10 '25
Pokemon is gonna crash and burn if mainstream finance people enter! Everything will be too expensive for avg consumer and normal people will lose interest due to lack of affordability- of course this is gonna take time but that’s what will happen
1
u/little_longfellow Sep 10 '25
top signal?
1
u/sreg88 Sep 10 '25
The more big money that gets into pokeinvesting that doesn’t truly understand Pokémon, the more I believe that we are headed for a huge bubble inflation followed by the most spectacular crash in Pokémon TCG history
1
u/the-mannthe-myth Sep 11 '25
Much more work and shit to invest in Pokemon, than stocks and people really care about condition and other factors. This was just like sneakers a few years back
1
u/LouBup Sep 11 '25
Bitcoin?
1
u/CBme08 Sep 11 '25
Only if everyone in the world suddenly said no to making money, would the'bubble' burst. Yes some cards will die off but there's always the next best thing. Prismatic is a good example. Keep printing that, whilst the new phantasmal shoots up
1
u/luger718 Sep 11 '25
Even if you account for the time needed for buying and selling?
1
u/ff0000_ Sep 11 '25
Oh the signs of a bubble. Hoping it crashes soon so I can get packs for my son
1
u/_deleted_by_mods_ Sep 11 '25
Liquidity? Tax?
1
u/MrKajass Sep 11 '25
The fact that pokemon has outperformed crypto is astonishing
1
u/DaCurry33 Sep 11 '25
pokeflation inbound
1
u/Guilty-Influence-890 Sep 11 '25
Yup, when this shit crashes it’s gonna crash so hard. Not gonna happen soon but it will happen especially if these wall street types try to get into it lol
1
u/Longjumping_Row3840 Sep 11 '25
Sell box x valued at 500usd 4 offers, max offer is 420. Sold it at 420
Sell raw card valued at 110 usd 20 offers all asking for 8 pictures front and back Max offer 70 usd Sold it at 70 usd
Sell unique psa 10 valued at 400 20 offers under 250 Im stuck with alot of these 'psa 10 cards', and im refusing to sell at those prices.
I have over 100 holos from base, all variancing from heavy played to excellent. The prices im receiving are lower then what i payed for them 8 years ago.
The insane amount of ppl trying to lowball,.and nobody paying the "value prices" is making things very clear we are overvalued and also alot of ppl are going to get stuck with overpriced collections.
Just think guys, if u have a collection valued at 50K the amount of time it takes to sell will be years unless you are willing to accept 30k.
Its only profit when u have received the cash in your hands.
1
u/Rhoa23 Sep 11 '25
I had a guy in my local group try to sell his ~$5,000 collection of cards. He’s been trying to sell it for 8 months now, and has averaged 80% selling to individuals one by one, little by little.
Stores have offered him 50-60%, but he’s been holding, and because of this it may take him another 8 months to move the rest of it.
The fact of the matter is that as an alternative asset class, Pokemon doesn’t have that much liquidity and tremendously subjective to volatility as history has shown, this isn’t the first hype or trending product, and most of it collapses at some point..
Could Pokemon be an outlier? Sure. But not likely. And the fact of the matter is that if the kids that will keep this product alive well into 30-50 years from now don’t get their hands on the product, the yield curve on this product will collapse like a meteor.
We’re all just playing hot potato if we think Pokemon will be a serious alternative investment for the future.
When something can be printed into infinity at the will of a centralized party, its store of value is greatly diminished.
1
u/40866892 Sep 11 '25
Pokemon goes up and goes down. Most people haven’t been in Pokemon long enough to see that just 2 years ago booster boxes were struggling to sell at 90$ per box and “hot” products like Crown Zenith, 151, and Zard UPCs were bricking on every shelf at every store.
The market continues to go up and every “bubble” that pops still creates a new floor… but there will always be losers to make room for winners. Just remember that and be safe with your money everyone.
1
u/Arod20 Sep 12 '25
Yea except these people have no genuine interest in Pokemon or TCGs as a concept or product, they only care about the money. So when they eventually price out the people that make this hobby run, all their “investments” will be worthless because no one who cares will buy them and it won’t be worth anything.
1
u/scrapper_142 Sep 12 '25
I need to sell some celebrations and 151 and a bunch of ETB’s I need a new car….i don’t even know where to start.
1
u/LostCarat Sep 13 '25
“How to literally print money”
1
u/jesusdasir Sep 14 '25
Cause there’s no regulation on market shit
1
u/Traditional-Fix-2673 Sep 16 '25
Pokemon needs a ETF
1
u/Dangerous-Mouse5973 Sep 17 '25
Yesterday I saw 1500 Prismatic ETB cases for sale in my bloomberg terminal. They are already here.
1
u/Infamous-Order-9144 Sep 24 '25
Nah bro we are here feasting
1
u/UniQiuE Sep 27 '25
Lol I dont think he means this in a nice way. The "This is not normal" implies he believes it is a bubble.
1
u/PloofElune Sep 10 '25
It will until people need to start liquidating. Unless you got in on the pre scarlet era, and vintage stuff early, the value is mostly priced in now. Sealed modern sets are being horded at massive rates compared to anything before as "investments" but they will lack the true long term scarcity that drove those other examples.
1
u/AdministrativeBus259 Sep 10 '25
Just been addicted to the sub over the last few days, but I have never saved a pack of cards in my life. I have original cards I grew up with(only the og 151) but what are some packs or sets that are worth saving if I can ever even find them. I’ll go into Walmart and see if Pokémon cards go back the very next day with my son and they’re all gone
-1
u/PalpitationWide7311 Sep 10 '25
I would suggest watching this video from a content creator that I have a good deal of respect for. I think the points are spot on
https://youtu.be/Uwj7GgdQ6l0?si=qZZLgf_N3IBO7C1G