I think this quote below from an article in CNN on the stock fiasco is germane:
"To me, it's probable that people are pushing retail investors in one way or another when they have undisclosed positions that are being advantaged by those actions," said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform group Better Markets. "That's going to be classic market manipulation, and I don't have any doubt that's going on."
This dynamic is very much in play in the unregulated sportscard market.
Of course there is true underlying demand with cards, and there are plenty of rarer/scarce cards that are not rising artificially— just like some healthy companies' stocks deservedly rise.
Yet the internet and social media have made it all too easy for self-styled card investment gurus to virally direct sheep/lemmings to items hyped as "undervalued," while not disclosing they own many examples of said item-- nor do the gurus disclose that they are selling their examples as the prices rise, due to their actions influencing their followers.
This can be seen coming from miles away. And it is best done with certain types of cards— ones that have demand, but are easy to buy up in bulk and not too expensive to grab at the start.
And once the prices rise, "Fear Of Missing Out" kicks in amongst collectors across the board who want to grab items they have had their eyes on before those items, too, rise-- which of course makes the items rise.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/29/inves...ion/index.html