Glossary

The words on the tin, explained.

Every number and label Poketrax shows, in plain English — what “market value” really means, how grading EV is worked out, and why a card’s printing changes everything.

Prices & value

How we turn a pile of sales into one number.

Market valueaka Market rate#: The single number we show for a card: the median of its recent sold prices, for that exact card and condition, in your chosen currency. It reflects what the card is actually changing hands for — not the cheapest asking price, and not a listing that never sold.
Compaka Comparable#: A single completed sale — one card that actually sold — matched to this exact card and printing. Market value is built by stacking up a card’s recent comps and taking the middle one, so the more comps a card has, the more reliable its number.
Median#: The middle value in a list of sales. We use the median rather than the average so that one freak price — a mispriced bargain or a hyped auction — can’t drag the whole number up or down.
Raw vs graded#: Raw means ungraded — a loose card in a sleeve. Graded means it has been sent to a company like PSA and sealed in a slab with a numeric grade. Graded copies sell for far more, so we price raw and graded separately and never blend them into one figure.
Buy-It-Now floor vs auction bid#: On the live listings we keep two very different prices apart. The Buy-It-Now floor is the cheapest fixed price you could pay right now. An auction bid is the current highest bid on a timed auction — it can still climb before the auction ends, so we don’t treat it as a settled price.

Grading

Slabs, scores, and whether it’s worth sending off.

Grade & grading companies#: A grade is a condition score from 1 to 10 assigned by a third-party company — PSA, BGS, CGC, SGC or ACE. The higher the grade, the better the condition and the more the card is worth. PSA 10, the top grade, is known as “Gem Mint”.
EV (Expected Value)#: For grading, EV is what a raw card is likely worth after you send it off to be graded. We weigh the odds of each possible grade against what that grade sells for, then subtract grading and postage costs. A positive EV means grading is likely to pay off; a negative EV means you’re probably better off leaving the card raw.
Population / pop report#: The population (or “pop”) is how many copies a grading company has certified at each grade. It’s a scarcity signal: if only a handful exist at PSA 10, that top grade is genuinely rare and commands a premium, even when lower grades are common.

Finding cards

The tools that surface what’s worth your attention.

Deal / deal radar#: A deal is a live listing priced below our market value by more than a set margin — a card you could buy for less than it’s worth. The deal radar scans live listings and surfaces these automatically, so you don’t have to keep refreshing searches by hand.
Movers#: The cards whose market value has changed the most over a recent window — the biggest risers and fallers. A quick way to spot what’s heating up or cooling off across a set.
Watchlist & target price#: Your watchlist is the cards you’re tracking but don’t necessarily own. Set a target buy or sell price on one and we’ll alert you when the market crosses it, so you don’t have to keep checking prices yourself.

Card identity

Why the “same” card isn’t always the same card.

Set & set number#: A set is a single release (like “151” or “Obsidian Flames”); the set number is a card’s position within it, written like 199/165. The number on its own isn’t unique — plenty of sets have a card 4 — so we always pair the number with its set.
Printing / variant#: The specific version of a card. The same artwork can exist as a plain (non-holo), Reverse Holo, Holo, 1st Edition or Shadowless printing, and prices between them can differ enormously. We price each printing separately rather than lumping them together.
Sealed & lots#: Sealed product (booster boxes, Elite Trainer Boxes) and lots (several cards sold together as a bundle) are priced completely differently from a single card. We filter them out of a card’s comps so a £300 booster box can’t masquerade as a single-card sale.

Missing a term? Tell us and we’ll add it.← Back to the landing