If you've waited on a PSA submission this year, you've felt the queue. Now you can watch it. PSA's public Backlog Tracker — updated every two weeks, using the same numbers its own management reviews — shows the grading queue peaked at 12.4 million cards on July 28 and has fallen at every reading since, reaching 6.8 million on November 3. That's a 45% drawdown, at a grading pace of roughly 90,000 to 105,000 cards a day.
The tracker also explains the tier chess. The Value tier reopened on October 29 at $39.99 — ahead of PSA's own 5-million-card target — while Value Plus and the bulk tiers stay paused, tied to that 5M milestone. One wrinkle worth knowing: the drawdown slowed right after Value reopened, from a million cards a fortnight to 400,000, because reopened doors let new submissions in. The queue is a bathtub with the tap running.
For anyone timing a submission, the useful habit is watching the change between readings rather than the headline number — a shrinking queue shortens every tier's real turnaround, and the queue counts receiving time too, before a grader ever sees your card. On the current pace, the remaining tiers project to reopen around December to January, though PSA ties that to the milestone, not the calendar.
We've been grading through all of it — the shop's current $39.99 Value batch exists because that tier reopened — and a visible, falling queue beats the old system of rumors and vibes. Patience is still required. At least now it comes with a number attached.
Read the full story at PreGradeCards: https://pregradecards.com/blog/psa-backlog-tracker-explained
