What a population report is
Every time PSA, BGS or CGC grades a card, the result is added to that grader’s population report: a table, per card, of how many copies it has graded at each grade. PSA publishes it as the Pop Report, Beckett and CGC as their population reports. Assetra pulls the report for each card from all three graders and shows it on the card page under the sales.
Pop, pop higher, pop 1
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pop (population) | How many copies the grader has graded at a given grade, e.g. “PSA 10 pop 123”. |
| Total graded | Every copy of the card the grader has ever graded, in any grade. |
| Pop higher | How many copies grade above yours. For a PSA 10 it is zero. |
| Pop 1 | Only one copy exists at that grade. “Pop 1, none higher” is the strongest version: the single best-graded copy known to that grader. |
| Gem rate | The share of total graded that earned the top standard grade; see the gem rate guide. |
Why population moves prices
Price is demand against supply, and for a graded card the population report is the supply side you can actually see. A card with three PSA 10s and a waiting list of collectors will not trade like one with eight thousand. The same logic sets the gap between grades: when a card almost never gems, the 10 earns a large premium over the 9. Assetra’s estimated market cap is built directly from this, multiplying the population at every grade by that grade’s average sale.
What a pop report does not tell you
- Pops only grow. A card scarce today can be common in two years as raw copies are submitted. Modern cards are the most exposed.
- Resubmissions count twice. A card cracked out and regraded, or crossed from another grader, adds a line without the old one being removed.
- Low pop can mean low interest. Nobody pays to grade a card worth a dollar, so a tiny population on a cheap card is a submission count, not rarity.
- It is one grader’s view. A PSA 10 pop of 50 says nothing about how many BGS or CGC copies exist. Read all three, which Assetra shows side by side.
The report is most useful next to the sales. On a card page, read the population under the ledger: the number of copies at your grade against how often one actually sells is the real measure of scarcity.
Related guides
See the numbers: the graded card price hubs, the sales ledger and how Assetra builds its figures.