Pokémon is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year — and the fictional “pocket monsters” that span video games, trading cards and an animated TV series are more popular than ever.

In the late 1990s, kids would collect and trade Pokémon cards for fun, trying to complete their collection and maybe even track down one of the rare holographic cards, called shinies.

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That’s still the case, but rare cards — and even new ones — are worth a lot more these days. In some cases, they’re outperforming traditional asset classes.

“New cards can sell out in minutes,” writes Arjun Kharpal, senior technology correspondent for CNBC. “People coordinate on X and Discord to know where to go. Prized…