Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Climbing in Price - 02/03/2026
By Peter Day •
We want you to have the best information available when you price cards on the TCGplayer Marketplace. So to help you get the most from your inventory, we’ve put together a downloadable CSV report of Pokémon cards that have dramatically increased in Market Price in the past 30 days.
(Note: This report only considers Near Mint copies of cards with at least ten sales between December 30, 2025 and January 28, 2026.)
Here are ten highlights from that report. First, we have the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price of $20 or less.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards $20 or Less
- Set: Mega Evolution
- Increase: +$8.69
- Current Market Price: $26.45
Prerelease promos in general have been seeing more movement over the past few months as the Pokémon market has slowed and speculators have looked to cards that the average flipper can’t access easily. Each Mega Evolution Build & Battle Box comes with one of four prerelease promos, and with those boxes currently going for around $50 each—mostly due to sheer scarcity—the associated promos have become harder to source.
- Set: Holon Phantoms
- Increase: +$8.85
- Current Market Price: $22.94
We can’t learn much from this spike, unfortunately. At time of writing, there’s only a single Near Mint listing for this obscure, 20-year-old Holo Rare. With so few copies available, it’s a seller’s market, though the demand for Armaldo is almost as low as the supply.
#3 Spiritomb - 087/132 (Pokeween 2025)
- Set: Miscellaneous Cards & Products
- Increase: +$11.57
- Current Market Price: $13.25
This Spiritomb was distributed at special Pokeween events held at local Play! Pokémon Stores during October 2025, and like most promo cards tied to in-store participation, it reached a relatively small portion of the Pokémon card fanbase. Because the Pokémon Company International didn’t release a new Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle for Halloween in 2025, this Spiritomb was the only Halloween-themed promo card of the season.
Both of those facts have made Spiritomb an attractive target for speculators, and on January 1, one speculator took advantage of that by buying up 395 copies at once. Its price spiked soon after.
#2 Team Rocket's Petrel - 226/182
- Set: Destined Rivals
- Increase: +$11.65
- Current Market Price: $14.68
The demand for full-art Team Rocket’s cards increased noticeably around Christmas 2025, presumably when many kids received the Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex League Battle Deck. The increase in sales volume has held steadily throughout the month, so while Team Rocket’s Petrel was the first to spike significantly, I’d recommend keeping a close eye on other cards like Team Rocket’s Ariana and Team Rocket’s Giovanni. Depending on how the meta evolves after rotation, Team Rocket cards could become even more valuable.
#1 Horsea
- Set: Fossil
- Printing: 1st Edition
- Increase: +$13.57
- Current Market Price: $20.04
Kabuto King’s viral quest to collect every 1st Edition Fossil Kabuto inspired countless imitators, and speculators have jumped on every low-tier 1st Edition Pokémon available. Horsea is just one of those Pokémon, though compared to cards like Psyduck and Omanyte, its growth has been less turbulent so far.
Next, these are the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price over $20.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards Over $20
#5 Gengar VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Fusion Strike
- Increase: +$46.75
- Current Market Price: $734.67
Many, many Gengar cards have been climbing in price over the past 12 months as collectors have begun treating Big G like the top-tier Gen I Pokémon that it is. This Gengar card is one of them, and while the total number of sales hasn’t been anything to write home about, each one has pushed this card’s price higher and higher.
#4 Giratina V (Alternate Full Art)
- Set: Lost Origin
- Increase: +$81.14
- Current Market Price: $663.20
A small buyout on January 15 (average of 5.5 copies per buyer) pushed this well-regarded Sword & Shield chase card even higher, though it’s still below the all-time high of $700 it reached in March 2025.
#3 Gengar & Mimikyu GX (Alternate Full Art)
- Set: Team Up
- Increase: +$92.38
- Current Market Price: $1,223.13
A significant buyout on April 5, 2024 (when one buyer purchased 10 copies for around $260 each) kicked off a price climb that has continued to this day.
That said, we might finally be reaching the ceiling on Gengar & Mimikyu-GX, with several sellers undercutting the Market Price by $20. If the run does end, it’ll still have been a wild ride of almost two years of straight growth. If it doesn’t end, there’s no telling when it will.
- Set: Prismatic Evolutions
- Increase: +$112.19
- Current Market Price: $944.20
“Sunbreon” briefly hit an all-time low of $800 at the end of December, so this recent spike represents a modest rebound for a card that was going for $1,600 a year ago. The Pokémon Company International made good on its promise to print Prismatic Evolutions aggressively all year, but with the release of Ascended Heroes (which is having its own supply problems), we might be reaching the end of Prismatic Evolutions reprints. That would bode well for anyone who already owns this #1 chase card of the set.
#1 Mega Charizard X ex - 125/094
- Set: Phantasmal Flames
- Increase: +$146.08
- Current Market Price: $641.87
Meanwhile, the #1 chase card from Pokémon’s November 2025 set has been on an extended rebound of its own since it hit an all-time low of just under $400 on December 24. Much of the value in Phantasmal Flames is contained in this one card—you don’t buy into a Charizard set for anything other than Charizard—so it’s benefitted the most as Phantasmal Flames box prices have risen since December.
By selling these cards online, you can reach a broad audience of customers who are willing to pay what these cards are truly worth. Download the January 2026 Price Trends Report to review every Pokémon card that went up in value this month. Then list those cards on TCGplayer so your inventory can do more for your business.
Download the Pokémon Price Trends Report
Your feedback is important to us. Let us know how we can improve this report or provide more value to you.