Best Onix Cards to Grade

The Onix cards worth grading, ranked by expected profit per submission — every grade outcome weighted by how often the card actually receives it — after current grading fees. The PSA 10 best case is shown on every row but does not decide the order. Top pick: Onix (Southern Islands) at an expected +$239.

Worth grading2

With a gem-rate sample2100%

Positive expected value1

Median gem rate23%

PSA fees as of2026-09-26

Ranked by expected profit 2

Onix cards worth grading, ranked by expected grading profit
#	Card	Raw	PSA 9	PSA 10	Cost	Best case	Gem rate	Expected	Sample
1	OnixSouthern Islands #3 · Vintage (1999–2003) Expected +$239 per submission: 23% of 1,091 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($1,320), and only a PSA 10 covers the $166 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample.	$53	$113	$1,320	$113	+$1,154	23%	+$239	1,091 high
2	Brock's OnixGym Heroes #21 · Vintage (1999–2003) Expected loss −$40 per submission: 17.5% of 126 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($238), and only a PSA 10 covers the $94 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample.	$12	$18	$238	$82	+$144	17.5%	−$40	126 high

Expected = every grade outcome weighted by its share of the card's graded population, minus the raw price and the grading cost (PSA tier fee for the graded value plus ~$20 round-trip shipping, fees as of 2026-09-26). Best case is the PSA 10 leg alone. Gem rates come from a self-selected population — collectors grade their cleanest copies — so read them as an upper bound. Raw is a blended market price, not a sale of your copy. Full method and filters on the grading index.

PSA population 31

Every Onix card with a PSA population reading, ranked five ways. A historical PSA 10 rate is the share of graded copies that came back a 10 — how hard a 10 has been to earn, not the chance your copy earns one — and it is only quoted on cards with at least 20 graded copies; the PSA 10 tables use the same floor. PSA counts as of 24 Oct 2026. How population is measured.

Most graded 31

The most-submitted cards, by total PSA graded.

Onix cards by total PSA graded
#	Card	Graded	PSA 10s
1	Onix Base #56	1,938	570
2	Onix-GX Hidden Fates #36	1,286	778
3	Onix Southern Islands #3	1,091	251
4	Onix Pokémon TCG Classic - Venusaur #10	220	96
5	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #69	170	22
6	Onix Aquapolis #98	139	50
7	Onix Base Set 2 #84	127	32
8	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #21	126	22
9	Onix Legendary Collection #84	96	32
10	Onix Evolutions #61	81	9

Show the next 15

Onix cards by total PSA graded
#	Card	Graded	PSA 10s
11	Onix Neo Genesis #69	63	15
12	Onix Team Rocket Returns #69	63	28
13	Onix McDonald's Collection 2019 #9	46	2
14	Onix Sandstorm #71	43	17
15	Onix FireRed & LeafGreen #42	35	6
16	Onix Unseen Forces #65	20	6
17	Onix HS—Unleashed #56	9	0
18	Onix Cosmic Eclipse #105	9	2
19	Onix Stormfront #69	8	1
20	Onix Battle Styles #68	8	2
21	Onix Paradox Rift #90	6	5
22	Onix Lost Thunder #109	5	0
23	Onix Pokémon GO #36	5	2
24	Onix 151 #95	4	1
25	Onix Fusion Strike #138	4	2

Fewest PSA 10s 16

The smallest PSA 10 populations among cards with at least 20 graded.

Onix cards with the fewest PSA 10s
#	Card	PSA 10s	Graded
1	Onix McDonald's Collection 2019 #9	2	46
2	Onix FireRed & LeafGreen #42	6	35
3	Onix Unseen Forces #65	6	20
4	Onix Evolutions #61	9	81
5	Onix Neo Genesis #69	15	63
6	Onix Sandstorm #71	17	43
7	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #69	22	170
8	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #21	22	126
9	Onix Team Rocket Returns #69	28	63
10	Onix Base Set 2 #84	32	127

Show the next 6

Onix cards with the fewest PSA 10s
#	Card	PSA 10s	Graded
11	Onix Legendary Collection #84	32	96
12	Onix Aquapolis #98	50	139
13	Onix Pokémon TCG Classic - Venusaur #10	96	220
14	Onix Southern Islands #3	251	1,091
15	Onix Base #56	570	1,938
16	Onix-GX Hidden Fates #36	778	1,286

Most PSA 10s 16

The largest PSA 10 populations among cards with at least 20 graded.

Onix cards with the most PSA 10s
#	Card	PSA 10s	Graded
1	Onix-GX Hidden Fates #36	778	1,286
2	Onix Base #56	570	1,938
3	Onix Southern Islands #3	251	1,091
4	Onix Pokémon TCG Classic - Venusaur #10	96	220
5	Onix Aquapolis #98	50	139
6	Onix Legendary Collection #84	32	96
7	Onix Base Set 2 #84	32	127
8	Onix Team Rocket Returns #69	28	63
9	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #21	22	126
10	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #69	22	170

Show the next 6

Onix cards with the most PSA 10s
#	Card	PSA 10s	Graded
11	Onix Sandstorm #71	17	43
12	Onix Neo Genesis #69	15	63
13	Onix Evolutions #61	9	81
14	Onix Unseen Forces #65	6	20
15	Onix FireRed & LeafGreen #42	6	35
16	Onix McDonald's Collection 2019 #9	2	46

Hardest to gem 16

The lowest historical PSA 10 rates among cards with at least 20 graded.

Onix cards with the lowest historical PSA 10 rate
#	Card	Historical PSA 10 rate	Graded
1	Onix McDonald's Collection 2019 #9	4.3%	46
2	Onix Evolutions #61	11%	81
3	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #69	13%	170
4	Onix FireRed & LeafGreen #42	17%	35
5	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #21	17%	126
6	Onix Southern Islands #3	23%	1,091
7	Onix Neo Genesis #69	24%	63
8	Onix Base Set 2 #84	25%	127
9	Onix Base #56	29%	1,938
10	Onix Unseen Forces #65	30%	20

Show the next 6

Onix cards with the lowest historical PSA 10 rate
#	Card	Historical PSA 10 rate	Graded
11	Onix Legendary Collection #84	33%	96
12	Onix Aquapolis #98	36%	139
13	Onix Sandstorm #71	40%	43
14	Onix Pokémon TCG Classic - Venusaur #10	44%	220
15	Onix Team Rocket Returns #69	44%	63
16	Onix-GX Hidden Fates #36	61%	1,286

Fastest growing 15

The most copies newly PSA graded over 30 days, between our readings of 14 Sept 2026 and 19 Oct 2026 — weekly readings, never interpolated between.

Onix cards by PSA copies graded over 30 days
#	Card	New graded	PSA 10s change
1	Onix Southern Islands #3	+21	0
2	Onix Base #56	+19	0
3	Onix-GX Hidden Fates #36	+12	+10
4	Onix Aquapolis #98	+9	+1
5	Onix Pokémon TCG Classic - Venusaur #10	+7	0
6	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #69	+5	0
7	Onix Battle Styles #68	+3	0
8	Brock's Onix Gym Heroes #21	+2	0
9	Onix Evolutions #61	+2	0
10	Onix Neo Genesis #69	+2	0

Show the next 5

Onix cards by PSA copies graded over 30 days
#	Card	New graded	PSA 10s change
11	Onix Sandstorm #71	+2	+1
12	Onix Base Set 2 #84	+1	0
13	Onix Team Rocket Returns #69	+1	0
14	Onix McDonald's Collection 2019 #9	+1	0
15	Onix Unseen Forces #65	+1	0

How to read the Onix ranking

Every Onix card listed here clears one bar: its PSA 10 price beats its raw price by more than the cost of grading it. 2 Onix printings pass. 2 of them (100%) have a gem-rate sample of at least ten graded copies in the population reports, and 1 of those keeps a positive expected value once every grade outcome is weighted by how often the card actually receives it.

The order is expected profit, not the PSA 10 best case, which rewards the widest raw-to-gem gap whether the card gems one time in two or one in fifty. Here the top row, the Onix from Southern Islands, gems 23% of the time across 1,091 graded copies: +$239 is what a long run of submissions would average, $1,154 is what one lucky copy returns.

The median gem rate across the sampled Onix cards is 23%. Roughly one submitted copy in 4 came back PSA 10, and no row here covers raw price plus fee at PSA 9, so the gem rate decides whether a submission pays. Of the 2 ranked cards, 2 need a 10 to break even and 1 loses money on expectation. 2 rest on a hundred or more graded copies.

Before you submit a Onix card

Grading pays on condition. The four things every grader scores — centering, corners, edges and surface — can be checked at home before paying a fee, and a copy that is visibly off-centre or has a whitened corner will not gem whatever the population says. Those gem rates come from a self-selected population of clean copies, so a random copy does worse.

The cost column assumes a PSA submission at the tier covering the card's PSA 10 value, fees as of 2026-09-26, and raw is CardTrack's blended near-mint price, not a sale of your copy: pay more, or hold a lighter copy, and the break-even moves against you. Test a card with your own numbers in the ROI calculator, see the printings that fail the bar on the Onix card list, or see how gem-mint premiums run across the whole catalogue on the PSA premium index.

Onix grading questions

Which Onix card is the best to grade?

On current numbers the Onix (Southern Islands #3): 23% of 1,091 graded copies came back PSA 10, an expected profit of $239 per submission after the $113 grading cost, against a best case of $1,154 if it gems.

How many Onix cards are worth grading?

1 keeps a positive expected value after the fee, out of the 2 with a gem-rate sample of at least ten graded copies. 2 cards on this page have a PSA 10 price that beats the raw price by more than the grading fee.

What gem rate do Onix cards get at PSA?

The median across the 2 sampled Onix cards is 23%, so about one in 4 of the copies collectors chose to submit came back PSA 10. The strongest rate with a sample of thirty or more is the Onix (Southern Islands #3) at 23% of 1,091.

Does the Onix ranking apply to CGC or Beckett?

Not directly. The cost column is PSA's fee as of 2026-09-26 and the graded columns are PSA slab prices; the gem-rate sample falls back to CGC's population only when PSA has fewer than ten copies. A CGC or Beckett submission has its own fee and resale price.

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