Disclaimer: This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not financial advice. Please do your own research before making any financial or purchasing decisions.

The card market has been heating up lately, especially with some record sales at the top of the market. This includes some Jordan & Kobe’s in basketball, Ohtani in baseball, and Messi in soccer. While these are the cards that have been grabbing the headlines recently, many parts of the sports card industry are doing quite well right now.

While it’s exciting to see prices going up, this may also be a smart time to step back and reassess your portfolio. When momentum builds, it’s natural to want to ride the wave — but it’s also exactly when it’s worth asking yourself: Which cards should I part with in case the market cools? While it seem attractive to hold on to every card during a bull market, I think it’s at least worth considering what rebalancing your portfolio. This could either be taking profits off of cards you did well on, or selling off some cards you have less of an interest in to consolidate into those that you prefer now.

This is something that I have been going through myself recently, where some of the cards that I bought early-middle of this year are up anywhere from 50-75%. These are cards that I really wanted to own at that time for various reasons, but for several of them my interest in them has cooled (or I am just more interested in other cards now). For a couple of them, including the 2000 Bowman Tom Brady (BGS 8.5) and 1986 Fleer Sticker Michael Jordan (BGS 6), I was able to sell them for a pretty significant profit even after fees. While I haven’t allocated this money yet to other cards, it does give me a nice chunk of change to deploy when I feel the need to (and also allows me to take some profits if the market does start to cool).

If you have made significant profits recently, maybe it’s worth considering realizing some of them and reinvesting into other cards you have always wanted, or simply holding a bit more cash to be ready for the next buying opportunity. While it’s always hardest to sell when the market is hot, consider the famous Warren Buffett saying “be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful”.