Ten days ago we counted 525 sales at $100,000 or more, and the update that landed today moves that number in a way that is hard to ignore. UltraBall rebuilt its count on October 27 to cover January 1 through October 26, and it now records 712 sales at that level for a combined $216,197,015. That is 187 more sales and $53,877,713 more than the version we reported in our October 20 report on the 525 sale count, and most of the jump comes from sales that closed after that first count stopped on October 16.
What changed since the first count
The million dollar club grew from 19 sales to 23 sales, and the count at $500,000 or more grew from 53 sales to 67 sales. Of the 712 sales in the new count, 549 came on or after September 1 for $158,169,023. Grade still does most of the filtering, with 569 of the 712 sales carrying a PSA 10 grade. Era does the rest, with 221 sales from the Wizards of the Coast years, 138 sales from the EX era, and only 18 sales of cards printed since 2014.
October at Fanatics is the cleanest trend
Coverage changes can inflate a count like this, and the report says so plainly, so the single venue trend matters most. At Fanatics Collect, where UltraBall has full depth data from February, sales at $100,000 or more ran at three to ten a month from February through July, then rose to 28 in August and 90 in September. In the first 26 days of October alone, Fanatics recorded 200 such sales for $44,844,000. Across all venues in the new count, Fanatics accounts for 357 sales worth $88,378,999, Goldin accounts for 120 sales worth $64,086,061, and Alt accounts for 180 sales.
Goldin against last year is a different scale
The new version adds a comparison the first count did not carry. At Goldin alone, UltraBall counted 115 sales at $100,000 or more from January 1 through October 26 of this year, worth $62,420,761. In the same stretch of 2025, Goldin recorded three such sales, and it recorded six in all of 2025. That is a like for like comparison at one auction house using its own published results for both years, and it shows the surge is not only a wider net catching more venues.
The new names at the top
Two of the biggest additions since October 16 closed at Goldin on October 26, and a second outlet confirms the headline results independently of the count. Collectibles News reports that the Art Academy Mudkip in PSA 10 sold for $4,880,000 and now sits fourth on the year list, while the Gold Trophy Pikachu in PSA 8 sold for $3,080,500 and sits seventh. Between them on the list is a Pikachu Illustrator in PSA 9 that sold for $3,237,954 at Alt on October 22 and sits sixth. A first edition Base Set Charizard in PSA 10 also added a second October result at $1,380,000 at Fanatics Collect on October 23, close to the $1,385,274 Alt result we noted in the first report. Nine of the ten biggest sales in the new count are Japanese prize cards that were never sold in packs, and the Illustrator alone now accounts for nine sales at $100,000 or more in six grades for $32,599,545.
Read the caveats before the headline number
The $216,197,015 total is still a floor and not the whole market. The report includes no private sales and no Japanese marketplaces, and Alt sales enter the data only from July 19. Seventeen Alt sales worth $4,881,242 had closed but had not yet been paid for when the data was read, and UltraBall counts them as sold, including a first edition Typhlosion in PSA 10 at $1,549,690. A winning bid that never gets paid can still leave a mark on price guides, so that group is the part of the new count to watch most closely in the weeks ahead.
What to watch next
Our take is that the trophy end of this hobby is moving faster than it was even ten days ago, while the cards most collectors actually own remain in a different market altogether. Watch whether those 17 unpaid Alt results complete. Watch whether Fanatics can hold anything near its October pace in November. And watch the next Art Academy and trophy card results, because those prize cards keep setting the ceiling that every other headline gets measured against.