The Best Pokémon Cards To Invest In For 2024

Investing in Pokémon cards is like investing in anything else, it is a highly speculative business and what may have been most successful in the last 5 years might be the least successful over the next 5 years. There are some ways that you can hope to predict which cards will be the best to invest in and you can use simple methods of analysing trends, following market prices and checking on products which have already made good returns. In this article, we are going to take a look at what we think are going to be some of the best Pokémon investments for the next year and beyond and why we think they are going to do well.

Things To Consider About Pokémon Card Investing

As with all investments, there are lots of variables to consider. Firstly, you should only be investing money which you are prepared to lose. There is no guarantee that the products you purchase are going to appreciate in value and if they do, it can take years for good gains to be realised. There is a big difference between buying one week and selling the next for a £5 profit and holding a collectors piece for 10 years that goes up 20x in value. We will be taking a more long term approach and all of the items we suggest will be ones that you should look to buy over the next 12 months and hold onto them for as long as you can.

There are a couple of main directions you can go with the investing side of Pokémon. Do you go for classic products which have seen massive increases in price and hope they will continue rising? Or do you go for newer products and sets in the hope that they will be the next Base Set and skyrocket in value over the next few years? Well this is a good question and one you need to think carefully about. Your answer may well be determined by how much you have to spend on these products in the first place. Not many of us have a few thousand pounds lying around waiting to be spent on Pokémon. It’s more likely that you have a little bit of spare cash each month that you want to slowly feed into cards that will form the basis of your collection.

The Covid boom was a great time to be a seller of Pokémon cards as their popularity went through the roof. Since then, some of the hype has died down a little and a lot of prices have actually fallen since then. Take the XY Evolutions booster box as an example. These were selling for over £1,000 during 2020 but now you can pick them up for less than £750. This is a 25% price drop over the last 3 years and if you had bought a box during the hype for investment purposes then you would be sitting on an unrealised loss of £250. This then begs more questions of speculation and where you think the market is going to head over the years to come. This type of hype driven market volatility is something you need to keep an eye on and be aware of. If you can buy into something before or at the very beginning of a ‘hype train’ like this then there are some nice profits to be had. If you feel that FOMO and buy in during the peak of the hype then you will almost certainly be left out in the cold when it comes to making some profit.

The Covid boom brings us another point to think about and that is the feeling of nostalgia that can drive a lot of prices higher. Lots of people grew up with the Wizard’s Of The Coast era of Pokémon and the thrill of opening those packs again, just like they did as kids, brings back lots of joy and excitement for people. There were lots of people who first got into Pokémon during Covid and so will these people have the same nostalgic feelings for their first packs? This first began towards the end of the Sun and Moon era and into the Sword and Shield era. We have already seen massive price increases in a lot of the Sun and Moon products and the Sword and Shield products could be following suit shortly. Some booster packs from Sun and Moon sets, particularly the later Tag Team GX era, can be picked up for under £20, which is a big leap from their £3.50 price tag on release. My thinking here is that I was lucky enough to be picking up lots of vintage packs around 8 years ago that were less than £20 and many of these have now jumped to over £300. This is a 15X increase over that time and I think if the Sun and Moon era packs can do half that then I will be pleased. Some of the more collectable Sword and Shield sets have begun to creep up in price as well, I’m looking at you Evolving Skies and Celebrations. Both of these are because they are highly collectable sets, with Evolving Skies having the Eeveelutions as alternate arts and Celebrations has the original starter trio in a Base Set artwork reprint. We have seen the success of this in the past with XY Evolutions.

Another thing to consider is the availability of a particular set and whether or not the Pokémon Company is still printing it. If they are, then supply is likely to be plentiful for quite some time and the prices are unlikely to go up, particularly if reprints are confirmed. However, once a set goes out of print, the supply will quickly diminish and every pack opened is one less that is in supply for the future. Don’t get me wrong, there are likely millions of packs of each set out there, but there won’t be forever and that’s one of the key points to ‘investing’, it’s a long term deal, not a get rich quick scheme.

Diversification is another term you will often hear with investing and one that rings true here as well. Diversification essentially means not putting all your eggs in one basket and spreading your money across multiple different types of products and sets. Rather than hoarding 10 booster boxes of Battle Styles on a hunch that that one is going to do best from the Sword and Shield era, why not get one booster box of each set from that block and spread your chances of them increasing. Perhaps look to spread your investment across some Japanese product as well as English, look at more vintage as well as more modern, graded cards as well as raw singles. This list could go on forever but hopefully this gives you an idea of how to diversify in simple terms.

Risks and Benefits of Pokémon Card Investing

There are risks and benefits involved with all types of investing and so this is nothing exclusive to Pokémon cards. Markets can go up and down and you may buy into an item at a ‘hype peak’ and the price may only decrease from there, as we saw during the Covid boom. You may bet on a particular product being a home run and it doesn’t do much at all. You cannot predict the future with certainty, but you can follow some simple analytics and trends to make sure you are successful. And as we said before, this is a long term game, most things you pick up now, which are of some rarity, will only increase over the years.

Of course, we know the risks are there, but there can be massive benefits if you are willing to do some research and be patient. A lot will also depend on your budget. You may have a large amount of money to spend, in which case you can look for more rare and exotic items which will only go one way. If you are on a much smaller budget then you may have to be much more speculative. A good idea for people on a tighter budget is to pick up all of the modern era Trainer Gallery cards that you can and some of the cheaper Alternate Art cards. These feature some fantastic artwork and a lot of popular Pokémon, as well as being relatively cheap right now. You can quite easily pick up a solid collection of Trainer Gallery cards for £100. Put them in some sleeves and toploaders and hide them away for a few years, or even consider grading some of the better ones and keep those 10s for future.

Of course, keep in mind that authenticity of a product is of paramount importance. If you have hoards of products which are fake, then you are not going to be able to sell it in the future. Make sure that you buy from reputable sellers to ensure that what you are buying is genuine. Purchasing from stores like ours, at Magic Madhouse, guarantees you are getting those authentic cards and gives you peace of mind for your investment.

Let’s Wrap This One Up

Pokémon card investing can be thrilling and extremely rewarding, particularly when you hit the jackpot that perhaps others were sleeping on. Bear in mind that markets can fluctuate and today's most popular product might be tomorrow’s worst. Don’t worry about this short term noise and focus on the long term goals involved.

My top picks for the next year, before the prices head too high, are the Sun and Moon era and some of the Sword and Shield sets. Make sure you're picking up singles, sealed products and graded cards, especially from those Tag Team sets. We also spoke about the modern Trainer Gallery cards to grab now and hold on to and also my favourite modern set, Brilliant Stars. Sealed products from Brilliant Stars will be a long term winner in my eyes as it contains some incredible chase cards.

Keep in mind all the things we’ve spoken about in this article and you’ll have a good mindset for future purchases. Why not head over to our website to browse the cards and dig out some bargains for the future.