Published November 04, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

In his recent viral post on LinkedIn, Upper Deck President Jason Masherah addressed a topic few inside the industry have been willing to discuss openly: “Everything speculative is up right now—[stocks, crypto, trading cards]—and it’s pricing some collectors out”. As he went on to say, “it works—until it doesn’t”.

Jason Masherah’s viral post captured what many collectors have been feeling but few have said out loud—speculation has priced out the very people who built this hobby. The data doesn’t lie: when 10% of the population drives 50% of spending, it’s not passion fueling the market anymore—it’s privilege.

For years, the hobby has told itself a comforting story: that rising prices mean growth, and growth means health. That the flashier the sale, the stronger the market. That the next record-breaking comp somehow validates the integrity of the ecosystem. But as Masherah pointed out, what’s been growing isn’t the foundation—it’s the bubble.

When boxes cost $1,000 or more, you’re not buying nostalgia anymore—you’re buying into a system of speculation. You’re wagering that the card inside will justify the price you paid. You’re betting on scarcity, hype, and timing. And like any bet, it only works as long as someone’s willing to pay more than you did.

When collecting becomes a wager instead of a wonder, the meaning starts to fade. Masherah’s honesty cut through the noise—reminding us that this level of speculation isn’t growth, it’s fragility disguised as success.

Masherah’s honesty struck a nerve because it exposed what many collectors already feel but rarely admit: that joy has quietly been replaced by justification. That the thrill of the chase has been rebranded as an “investment strategy”. That we now talk about “liquidity” instead of legacy, “ROI” instead of remembrance.

It’s not just about money—it’s about what we’ve normalized. We live in what Masherah called a “new gambling economy”. The same dopamine loops that power sports betting, stock apps, and crypto platforms now power the hobby. If it’s not gambling, it’s breaking. If it’s not breaking, it’s chasing a bounty. If it’s not a bounty, it’s a repack promising “guaranteed value”. And when those numbers start slipping, we call it a “market correction” instead of what it really is—a correction of priorities.

Jason Masherah recently joined Darren Rovell on CLLCTV to discuss the current state of the hobby—rising prices, market manipulation, and the widening gap between collectors and speculation. A much-needed conversation about where the industry is headed—and what it means for the people who actually love it.

The tragedy isn’t that collectors are spending money—it’s that many are losing themselves in the process. Somewhere along the way, the chase replaced the connection. What began as curiosity and community has become a cycle of motion mistaken for meaning, activity for achievement, and speculation for belonging.

As Masherah put it, “What we’ve seen since the beginning of time in this industry is that the market moves—it can move up, it can move down—but when it moves down, sometimes people get burned, and they don’t come back.”

It’s a sobering truth: when the market turns, it’s not the speculators who disappear—it’s the collectors who loved it most.

But here’s where things can change. Masherah’s perspective wasn’t cynical—it was a call for honesty. A reminder that fragile markets don’t collapse because of bad luck; they collapse because of denial. They fall when we forget what brought us here—the stories, the history, the sense of wonder in opening something unknown.

The hobby doesn’t need another boom. It needs balance. It needs leaders and collectors alike to start asking harder questions: Are we building something sustainable, or just inflating another balloon? Are we celebrating connection, or chasing comps? Are we teaching the next generation how to collect—or how to gamble with better packaging?

This is what speculation looks like—an object suspended between luck and loss. In a market where hype determines value, the same card can feel like a win or a warning. The more we gamble on meaning, the less meaning it holds.

The real reset won’t come from regulation or another platform—it’ll come from awareness. From choosing meaning over manipulation. From remembering that collecting was never about what something was worth—it was about what it meant.

Masherah’s words matter because they broke the silence inside the system itself. And if one of the industry’s most powerful voices can say, “This isn’t sustainable”, maybe it’s time we all start listening.

Maybe it’s time we start collecting differently—not for profit, but for purpose.

#CollectorsMD
The future of the hobby depends on what we value more—the cards we hold, or the meaning we give them.

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