On August 11, PSA reported its active grading backlog at 11.85 million cards, down from 12.4 million two weeks earlier. It is the first update since the Value-tier pause began that reads unambiguously as progress, and it came with a reason: PSA says July surpassed June as the company's biggest grading month on record.
The curve so far
| Date | Active backlog |
|---|---|
| May 28 | 10 million |
| June 2 | 14 million (peak; Value tiers paused) |
| June 30 | 12 million |
| July 14 | 11 million |
| July 28 | 12.4 million |
| August 11 | 11.85 million |
The shape matters more than any single reading. The pause on June 2 stopped the cheapest submissions, and the backlog fell fast through June. Then it rose again in July, because the orders already in the system at higher tiers kept arriving and PSA's throughput, even at record levels, could not outrun them. August 11 is the first reading where output has visibly beaten intake across a full fortnight.
What is paused, and the target
Since June 2 PSA has accepted no new submissions at its four Value tiers (Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus and Value Max), which previously started around $25 a card. Everything from the $80 Standard tier up remains open. PSA's stated condition for reopening the Value tiers is a backlog "under five million" cards, and its own projection in the August update was that this would take a further five to six months.
If you have cards waiting to go in
Do the arithmetic honestly. Standard grading at $80 only makes sense for a card worth several hundred dollars in the grade you expect. For a $60 modern hit, the Value pause is a reason to wait, and the backlog curve says the wait is measured in months, not weeks. Plan for the reopening to arrive with a surge: every raw card that has been held back will go in at once, and turnaround on the cheap tiers will be long for a while after they open.
If you already hold slabs
The pause works for you. The supply of new PSA 10s is arriving slower than normal, so for cards whose population is mostly already graded, the gem-mint count is effectively frozen for the next half year. The six-figure sales in this issue's lead are the extreme end of what a frozen population does to a price; the everyday version is that a PSA 9 or 10 of a mid-tier vintage holo has been firmer all summer than the raw market underneath it.
Source: PSA's fortnightly backlog tracker, August 11, 2026 update.
Chart of the Day ran in The Pack Report, August 13, 2026: Rayquaza Takes the Week, Gengar Takes Two Spots. Published by Rip Station.