TCG Investment Glossary

A reference glossary of the terminology used across Cardboard Assets. 52 terms, cross-linked to the methodology pages that explain them in depth. Use the table of contents on the left to jump to a letter; use ⌘F to find a specific term.

A

Alpha Investing

Excess return over a benchmark, expressed in percentage points. Era pages benchmark TCG basket return vs S&P 500 TR — alpha is the gap between the two over the same horizon. → Eras dashboard

B

Basket return Investing

DCA-equivalent total return of a basket of products. Each era's basket return is computed by simulating equal-dollar dollar-cost-averaging into every tracked product from era-start to today.

BETA badge Methodology

On-platform indicator that a number is sourced from manual_seed (synthetic) rather than verified data. Disappears as the comp pipeline lands real data on the card. → Comp pipeline

BGS Grading

Beckett Grading Services. One of the four major card graders, known for subgrade reporting (centering, corners, edges, surface) on its hard plastic slabs. BGS Pristine 10 / Black Label requires all four subgrades at 10.0.

Booster box Pokemon

Standard sealed product format. Pokémon English booster boxes typically contain 36 booster packs (or 18-24 for modern sets). MTG booster boxes vary by product line.

C

CAGR Investing

Compound Annual Growth Rate. The constant year-over-year growth rate that would produce the observed total return. CAGR = (final/initial)^(1/years) − 1.

CGC Grading

Certified Guaranty Company. Major card grader since 2020. Offers CGC 10 and Pristine 10 grades. Generally regarded as slightly more lenient than PSA on modern cards.

Chase card Pokemon

The high-rarity, high-value card(s) in a set that drive box EV. In modern Pokémon: SIR (Special Illustration Rare) and Hyper Rare slots. In WOTC: Charizard, Lugia, Crystal-types.

Comp Investing

Comparable sale price for a card or product at a specific grade. Cardboard Assets' comp sources are surfaced per card in the freshness chip — manual_verified, inferred_sold_hybrid, ebay_sold, manual_seed.

Comp pipeline Methodology

Nightly cron that syncs eBay active listings, detects disappearances, infers sold prices with confidence scoring, and writes to prices_graded. → Pipeline explained

D

DCA Investing

Dollar-Cost Averaging. Investing equal dollar amounts at regular intervals regardless of price. Era basket calculations use a monthly DCA model from era-start to today for both the basket and the S&P 500 TR benchmark.

E

EPN Affiliate

eBay Partner Network. eBay's affiliate program. When approved, links to eBay listings earn commission on resulting sales. The platform has an active EPN application.

ETB Pokemon

Elite Trainer Box. Pokémon retail product containing 9 booster packs, sleeves, energy cards, promo cards, and a code card. Lower pack count than a booster box but better retail availability.

EV Grading

Expected value. Probability-weighted average outcome across possible grade results. EV = P(top) × comp_top + P(9) × comp_9 + P(<9) × comp_below_9. → Grading economics

F

Foil curl Pokemon

Modern Pokémon foil cards (especially Hyper Rares) bend slightly due to foil-layer expansion. A leading cause of cards grading 9 instead of 10 on PSA.

G

Gem rate Grading

The probability your raw card grades at the grader's top grade. PSA 10 gem rate = (PSA 10 count) / (total PSA-graded count) per card. → Gem rate explainer

GRADE verdict Methodology

Optimizer verdict assigned when net profit ≥ $200 or play score ≥ 80. The math clearly favors grading the card.

Graded comp Grading

Recent sold-listing price for a graded version of a card. Compared to raw price to compute the slab premium.

H

Hyper Rare Pokemon

Modern Pokémon rarity tier. Rainbow-foil reprints of chase cards. Pull rate ~1 per booster box; PSA 10 comps often $200-500.

I

Illustration Rare Pokemon

Modern Pokémon rarity. Full-art illustration of a Pokémon. Pull rate ~1 per booster box. Often the second-most-valuable rarity tier behind SIR.

Inferred sold Methodology

Comp data sourced from eBay disappearance detection (listing disappeared, classified as sold with confidence score). Less trusted than manual_verified but trusted enough for inclusion in EV math when confidence ≥ 0.4.

INSUFFICIENT verdict Methodology

Optimizer verdict assigned when comp data is too thin to compute. The page renders an empty-state hero rather than projecting math against a small sample.

M

Manual seed Methodology

Original platform-seed comp value from the initial bootstrap. Labeled BETA / verifying on the page. Replaced by manual_verified or inferred_sold_hybrid as comp pipeline accumulates data.

Manual verified Methodology

Hand-curated comp value verified against external references (SCI auctions, PSA Pop Report, eBay sold listings). Highest-trust source. Never overwritten by automated sources.

Marketplace Insights Methodology

eBay API that returns real sold-listing data. Limited Release; requires application approval. Cardboard Assets is in the queue post-Browse API deployment.

MSRP Investing

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. The price the product was originally sold at retail. Used as the baseline for sealed-product appreciation (spot vs MSRP).

N

Net profit Grading

Expected value minus all costs: net = EV − raw_cost − grading_fee − shipping − ebay_fee. The headline number the optimizer ranks cards by.

O

OG image Methodology

Open Graph image. The branded share-card image platforms like Twitter/Discord show when a link is pasted. The platform generates per-card OG images at build time for cards in optimizer detail scope.

Optimizer Methodology

The platform's grading-economics calculator. Computes EV, net profit, and verdict per card across PSA / CGC / BGS / SGC / TAG. Surfaced at /tools/grading-optimizer/. → Run optimizer

P

Play score Methodology

0-100 composite rank for grading-flip opportunities. Combines profit, ROI, sample depth, pop velocity, and liquidity. → Score formula

Pop report Grading

Population Report. Public per-card cumulative grading counts published by PSA, CGC, BGS. Used to compute gem rate.

Pop velocity Methodology

Rate of change in PSA 10 population over a window (30d / 90d / 180d). Rising velocity = supply growing; falling velocity = supply tightening. Feeds into the play score's pop component.

Pristine 10 Grading

BGS top-grade requiring all four subgrades (centering, corners, edges, surface) at 10.0. CGC also uses Pristine 10 distinct from regular 10. Pristine 10 cards command 5-10× the regular 10 premium.

PSA Grading

Professional Sports Authenticator. The dominant grader for Pokémon and modern sports cards. Slabs sell at the highest premium of any grader in most card markets.

R

Raw Grading

An ungraded card. The starting state before submission. Raw market price is the input to the grading EV calculation.

Reserved List MTG

MTG cards that Wizards of the Coast has pledged never to reprint. The list dates to 1996. Reserved List cards form their own asset class with structural scarcity similar to WOTC Pokémon vintage.

ROI Investing

Return on Investment. ROI = net_profit / raw_cost. The proportional return on a grading flip.

S

S&P 500 TR Investing

S&P 500 Total Return Index. The S&P 500 with dividends reinvested. The platform's universal benchmark for TCG investment performance. Ticker ^SP500TR.

Sealed product Investing

Unopened sealed booster product (booster box, ETB, bundle, collector booster, etc.). Tracked on /sealed/ with vs-MSRP and vs-S&P 500 TR returns.

SGC Grading

Sportscard Guaranty Corporation. Niche grader with growing TCG presence. Generally cheaper than PSA at equivalent service tiers. Slabs sell at a discount to PSA in most categories.

SIR Pokemon

Special Illustration Rare. Modern Pokémon's chase rarity. Alternative-art version of Pokémon ex cards with extra-rare pull rate (~1 per case). PSA 10 SIRs are the modern equivalent of WOTC chase holos.

Skip verdict Methodology

Optimizer verdict for negative-EV grading flips. The math says sealed beats grading at current comps + fees.

Slab Grading

The graded card's plastic holder. Differs by grader — PSA uses a thin clear holder, BGS uses a thick translucent holder with subgrade labels, CGC is similar to BGS but with the CGC logo.

Slab premium Grading

The markup of a graded card over a raw card at the same grade tier. Concentrated at the top grade — PSA 10s sell at 5-50× raw, PSA 9s typically 1.5-3× raw.

Spot Investing

Current sealed-market price for a product. Snapshot per pipeline run; tracked vs MSRP and vs S&P 500 TR.

T

TAG Grading

TAG Grading. AI-graded card-grading service. Newer entrant; slabs haven't earned premium parity with PSA/CGC/BGS yet. Listed on the optimizer for completeness.

TCGplayer Affiliate

eBay-owned card marketplace. Largest raw-card and singles market for both Pokémon and MTG. Affiliate program runs through Impact (3.5% commission).

Trim Grading

Card altered by trimming the edges to look better-centered. PSA and CGC detect trims via thickness/dimensional measurement; trimmed cards get the dreaded 'Altered' label which destroys resale value.

Turnaround Grading

Days from submission receipt to grade-back. Varies by grader and tier — PSA Express ~5-10 business days; PSA Bulk 90+ business days. Time-cost matters for fast-moving modern cards.

V

Verdict Methodology

The platform's per-card grading recommendation: GRADE / WATCH / SKIP / INSUFFICIENT. Computed from net profit + play score thresholds.

W

WATCH verdict Methodology

Optimizer verdict for marginal-positive flips. Net profit ≥ $50 or play score ≥ 60, but not GRADE-conviction. Worth tracking; not worth acting on yet.

WOTC Pokemon

Wizards of the Coast. Pokémon's original printer (1999-2003). 'WOTC era' refers to Base Set through Skyridge. Highest-conviction Pokémon investment era due to fixed print runs and 25+ year hold horizon.