Issue #14 | April 18, 2026
Comped
The Numbers
Third straight all-green week
After 11 mixed weeks of assets, this is our third straight all-green week. We have gone from heating up to ON FIRE🔥
–Baseball Up
–Basketball 7 week streak
–Football still up on draft day anticipation
–Soccer World Cup in 53 days
–Pokemon Make that 14 weeks of gains
–One Piece a second flat week, weakest of gainers over the past two weeks
–S&P 500 Another huge week
–Gold more shine for gold
–Bitcoin rallying big off lows
It’s now three weeks of across-the-board gains. Optimism=money in markets, so that’s what we’re seeing here.
This is like any scene with Creedence Clearwater Revival playing as the track: Life is good; wallets are loose.
The threat of protracted war and stable interest rates has given way to renewed faith.
What does this mean to you in cards? All lights right now are green, but the more green lights you go through, the more you start to think about those lights turning to yellow and red.
As an investor, timing is everything.
If you want to ensure that you can lock in gains, watch sales volume on Cardladder. Volume is a leading indicator: When it levels off: Yellow Light 🟡. When it starts to dip: Red Light🔴.
The News
March saw FOUR sales over $1M
In this article from Yahoo! Sports (where I get all my sports news…kidding) we have news that affirms the movement we’ve been talking about for months: High end is alive and strong.
Aaron Judge hit a grand slam in the card market this month, not only setting the record for a modern baseball sale with his 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks Autographs Superfractor 1/1 selling for $5.2M, but also stuffing the sales history stat sheet with a $2.16M MVP Gold Logoman sale with Shohei Ohtani.
As someone who finds Judge highly underrated, this was an affirming couple of sales.
The bigger picture, however, is that the evolution of the high-end market continues.
5 years ago any sale over $1M would have turned heads…now we have multiple sales in one month for unfathomable amounts.
Demand continues, and is set to continue for the right cards for a long long time.
The Framework
Green Light
This is a tired patten we’ve seen in finance for a hundred years: Because people stake their reputations on being right, they call for bull markets or bear markets as soon as the other takes hold. Once it’s a bull market, someone can preach caution and say “sure, but watch out, eventually a bear market is coming,” and at some point in the near or far future they’ll be right. Same thing when a bear market comes around.
Predicting something as inevitable as change is a good bet, and people can forgive you if your timing on it is a bit off 😉.
This is normally not a high-fidelity, data-driven message being peddled.
What I will tell you, is watch sales volume in your card industry of choice. If you see a month dip, zoom in and watch closely. If this deep accelerates on a week to week basis, start walking toward the exit. If it accelerates for 3 consecutive months, gear up to a run towards that exit.
Keep your emotion at bay, and enjoy the ride.
Skate to where the rink is going.
Me
Keep Building,
DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. The content reflects the author’s personal opinions and analysis and should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any assets. Sports cards and collectibles are speculative investments with significant risk of loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The author may hold positions in assets discussed in this newsletter. Readers should conduct their own research and consult with qualified financial, tax, and legal professionals before making any investment decisions. By reading this newsletter, you acknowledge and accept these terms.