Sell into the spike
Time exits on cards you own
Most card spikes are short-lived. A buyout doubles the price for a week, then reverts when the speculator unloads. Timing the exit is everything: too early and you leave money on the table, too late and you ride the price back down. SpellBook's alerts and price history make the exit window visible.
- Step 1
Set price alerts on cards you would actually sell
Walk your portfolio and tag the top 20 cards by value. Set a price-rise alert for each. Most card spikes start with a velocity surge before the price prints, so velocity alerts give you a small head start over pure price alerts.
Open Alerts → - Step 2
When an alert fires, check the printing detail page
Pull up the card. The price chart shows whether this is a sustained climb or a 48-hour buyout spike. Real climbs trend up over weeks. Buyouts have a single near-vertical bar followed by a flat line as listings get relisted higher.
- Step 3
Watch for the relist wave
After a buyout, sellers post their copies at the new high. If the relisted copies sit unsold for 3+ days, the spike will revert. That is your exit signal: list at 10% below the latest sale to clear before the bottom falls out.
- Step 4
Cross-reference with Movers to confirm momentum
If your card is also on the Movers list with sustained week-over-week gains, the spike is probably real demand, not pure speculation. Hold longer. If it is a one-day mover with no related sets churning, sell now.
Open Movers → - Step 5
Record the sale in your portfolio
Log the exit so your cost basis and realized gain are right. SpellBook's portfolio performance chart tracks realized P&L over time so you can see whether your timing is actually beating buy-and-hold.