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3 trading card games to collect if you’re looking to diversify beyond Pokémon

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The power of Pokémon is drawing new collectors to card games as investment opportunities.

The franchise is dominating the collectible card market at the moment, and the spotlight is widening to include other trading card games.

Business Insider spoke to Elizabeth Gruene, the general manager of pop culture at Professional Sports Authenticators, or PSA, which authenticates and grades trading cards based on their condition. PSA got its start in grading sports cards, but a major flip in recent years has seen trading card games like Pokémon taking over the bulk of its business.

While rare Pokémon cards are selling for millions in some instances, its competitors are catching on as collectors look for their next up-and-coming investment. It’s driven a spike in popularity in three brands that are already household names in pop culture.

“Many collectors are looking to diversify their collections or discover emerging categories before they reach the level of demand we’re seeing with Pokémon,” Gruene said.

From animated series that millennials grew up watching to a live-action Netflix show, these franchises are attracting both game players and investors alike to pick up a pack of their cards. Some of those cards have sold for thousands on eBay, Gruene said.

These are the trading card games that are popping off among collectors.

One Piece


One Piece boxes

Netflix released a live-action “One Piece” series in 2023.

Roger Kisby/Getty Images for Netflix



The “One Piece” trading card game, released in 2022, is inspired by the anime series that has been on screens since 1999. In the nearly four years since being on shelves, the card game has had a meteoric rise in popularity.

The number of One Piece cards that PSA has graded spiked around 700% over the last six months, Gruene said — a level of growth only comparable to that of Pokémon in 2022. PSA graded 144,000 One Piece cards in February alone, compared to about 10,000 for all of 2022.

Despite being new to the collectible trading card game scene, One Piece is already fetching high prices on the resale market. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave away a One Piece card featuring the show’s protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, in July 2025. It later sold on eBay for $15,000 in November, The Athletic reported.

Magic: The Gathering


Magic: The Gathering cards

A pristine condition Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering sold for $3 million in April 2024.

Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images



Magic: The Gathering is one of the oldest modern trading card games on the market. Its debut set, which was released in 1993, sparked a boom of card games in the 1990s. Although it’s been popular among collectors and gamers for decades, its investment potential is a major driver in its current status with newbies.

Pokémon isn’t the only franchise capable of fetching millions for a single card. A pristine condition Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering sold for $3 million in April 2024.

The renewed interest in Magic: The Gathering in recent years is partly due to releasing lines of more collectible cards and collaborations with other franchises like Marvel and Final Fantasy, Gruene told Business Insider.

Yu-Gi-Oh!


Woman holding Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for just as long as Pokémon.

picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Images



The collectible world can’t stop talking about Pokémon’s 30th anniversary this year, but one of its biggest competitors is set to celebrate the same milestone in 2026.

Yu-Gi-Oh! exploded in popularity after the anime series released in 2000. Months later, the trading card game quickly became highly sought after. Since then, it has maintained a commanding presence in the collector scene and been the subject of new movies, TV spinoffs, and card packs.

“Nostalgia is a major driver of collectibles,” Gruene said.

There has been chatter that some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards have sold for millions in private sales. One of its most expensive cards ever sold is a one-of-one card made for a Make-A-Wish recipient. The “Tyler the Great Warrior” card sold for around $300,000 on eBay in 2023.

Although you won’t find a card that rare at your local Costco, that doesn’t mean a pack from the store couldn’t hold valuable finds. As more people catch on, these trading card games are getting cleared from their shelves.

“The whole world is starting to realize just how popular the franchises are,” Gruene said.




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Morgan Stanley is cutting 3% of its workforce in core business lines, including banking, trading, wealth

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Morgan Stanley is reducing its global workforce by 3%.

The reductions are expected to impact roughly 2,500 positions out of the about 83,000 the firm reported at the end of 2025, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to Business Insider, adding that they will take place in early March. The Wall Street Journal first reported Morgan Stanley’s cuts on Wednesday afternoon.

The cuts will be global and span the firm’s three primary business units: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management. The rationale for the reduction is a combination of shifting business priorities, a revised global location strategy, and individual performance reviews, the person added, saying that the action is set to affect both front-office, revenue-generating roles and back-office support positions.

Notably, the person said that, while the firm’s respected wealth management division is affected, the cuts in that business line are focused on corporate “home office” roles. Financial advisors in field offices are not affected by this round of layoffs, the person continued.

The move follows a similar round of cuts last spring, when the bank reportedly trimmed approximately 2,000 roles. However, the current reductions come at a more optimistic moment for the firm’s bottom line. In its most recent earnings report, Morgan Stanley posted record full-year 2025 revenues of $70.6 billion, with investment banking revenues surging 47% in the final quarter of the year.

The layoffs come as the broader financial industry prepares for an anticipated windfall in corporate dealmaking, and some rivals are touting how they’re bulking up — not pulling back — on head count to meet the moment. Still, while Morgan Stanley is reducing head count in specific areas, the person with knowledge of the bank’s thinking said, it’s still planning for long-term growth and intends to add resources in some sectors while trimming in others.




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Khamenei’s killing spurs outrage among Kalshi and Polymarket users over claims of rigged markets and insider trading

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First came the bets. Then came the bombs. Now comes the outrage.

On Saturday, while many Americans were waking up to news of US and Israeli strikes on Iran, some were betting money on what would happen next — and expressing confusion and anger over what was happening on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

The market-surveillance software company Bubblemaps said Saturday morning it had identified several new cryptocurrency wallets connected to Polymarket that collectively made over $1.2 million related to strikes on Iran.

Meanwhile, hours after the strikes began, Kalshi posted on X about the volatility in markets related to the ousting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

On Polymarket, at least $200 million was staked on four wagers related to US strikes on Iran, regime change, or Khamenei’s death. Kalshi, which is more regulated and barred by US law from offering markets related to war and assassination, recorded almost $55 million in contracts related to whether or not Khamenei would be “out” in the next several months before activity in those markets was halted on Saturday afternoon.

The drip-drip of news and ambiguities in the contractual language on Kalshi and Polymarket led some users to think they had an edge as the day progressed. But several expressed outrage at the processing of their bets — or “trades,” as Kalshi calls them.

“Robbery. This platform is terrible,” wrote one Kalshi user, who posted an image showing a loss of $11.25 on a long-shot bet on Khamenei’s ouster.

While Kalshi only lists seven open markets on its “Iran” page, Polymarket had 187 Iran-related markets open as of Sunday morning, many with very little trading volume.

One that has since closed asked whether the US would “forcibly remove” Khamenei by March 31. Polymarket posted a “clarification” that the market resolved to “no” because the US had “merely contribute[d] to or assist[ed]” in the killing of Khamenei.

Some commenters urged that the outcome be disputed. Polymarket, where activity is logged on the Polygon blockchain, has a complex, decentralized resolution mechanism for many of its markets.

Markets that hinge partly on death are among the most controversial ones offered on prediction markets because they could create financial incentives for killing. In Israel, several people were reportedly arrested, and at least two were indicted in February based on their use of military secrets to make Polymarket bets.

In late February, six Democratic senators asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has emerged as the main regulator of US prediction markets, to take action against contracts that “incentivize physical injury or death,” citing several Polymarket contracts and not mentioning Kalshi.

Chris Murphy, another Democratic senator, said this weekend on X that he would introduce legislation “ASAP” to prevent “people around Trump” from “profiting off war.”

By the end of Saturday, Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour posted on X that bets on Khamenei’s ouster would be paid out for their value the minute before Israel and the US reportedly struck Iran. Users who bought contracts after that point would be partly reimbursed, he said.

Some people protested or expressed confusion over how their positions would resolve. Others were supportive of Kalshi’s decisions.

“90% of you never read any rules and are mad at Kalshi because you couldn’t make money off your lil $10,” one user said in the comment section on Kalshi. “Get a grip, start reading rules.”

Representatives for Kalshi and Polymarket didn’t immediately respond to questions sent by email on Sunday morning.

Have a tip? Know more? Reach Jack Newsham via email (jnewsham@businessinsider.com) or via Signal (+1-314-971-1627). Use a personal email address, a nonwork device, and nonwork WiFi; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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