For any collector picking the best trading card binders is a mandatory process to keeping your collection safe and it can also be a way of displaying them too!
The Retro Dodo team have been collecting trading cards for over 20 years, and we’ve had our fair share of the best trading card sleeves and trading card binders.
We’ve tested some pretty awful ones, and are still using some binders that we’ve had for years on end. The market is forever increasing, every trading card business and their uncles want a piece of the accessory pie, but not many succeed.
It’s really hard to innovate on an already solid product. How do you make a binder better? Some have done that, in ways that are very miniscule but are noticed by hardcore veteranrs.
So we’re showing you our best trading card binders of the year in order to protector your rare Pokemon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh, MTG or even sports cards!
1. Vault X Premium eXo-Tec 12-Pocket Binder
Number one on our best trading card binders list is by a company called VaultX. These premium eXo-Tec binders are made from an extra rigid padding that sounds the binder in a non-slip, water resistant material.
Classed as a premium quality trading card binder this one features a zip around the edge to keep your rare Pokemon Topps cards carefully sealed from dust and water.
It has 20 pages which can hold up to 480 cards. The sleeves themselves are made from an archival-safe, acid-free, non-pvc material, just like some of the higher end trading card sleeves. They also chuck in a 12 month warranty too, letting you know they trust their products with your cards.
One of the nicest features is that the sleeves are side loaded, making it less likely for drops or bumps to remove the cards from their sleeves. You can choose from a wide number of colours and the logos are minimal, making your binder look sleek in any collectors cabinets you may store them in.
This is by far one of the best trading card binders on the market for those that want premium quality for an affordable price.
2. Ultra Pro Premium Window Binder
This binder has been our latest pickup, reviewed a few weeks before writing this article in fact. This is one of Ultra Pro’s latest products, known as the “Window Binder”.
It’s a genius idea, a way to really innovate on a “basic” product, and that’s why Ultra Pro are the top dogs in their field, they innovate and create their own lane in the binder/sleeve game.
This binder can hold up to 180 cards, so its quite a slim lined binder, one that unfortunately can’t house some whole Pokemon or MTG sets. But, it’s a binder that we feel is for a collector who doesn’t want to complete full sets.
This is a binder to show off what’s in the inside. We use ours specifically for housing all of our Charizard’s, or one specific type of card. The window allows you to easily determine what your binder is filled with. It’s “the Charizard Binder” or my “first edition Yu-Gi-Oh collection” etc.
The window binder from Ultra Pro also has an elastic strap the goes around the back of the binder, allowing you to keep your binder shut. Although some would say the strap is around the wrong way, it feels as if your strap looks undone when done as it straps from the back to the front, instead of the traditional front to back.
This is not a binder for your valuable collection, a small drop could send your cards flying out, and the last thing you want is something scratching the window, causing damage to your collection.
This a binder for those that want to show off their collection, and potentially have a binder for your non-valuable cards, making it easier to manage them as you can see through the window to organise them.
While writing this Ultra Pro seem to be selling out of these fairly quickly, so their maybe a small premium to pay should you want to snag one.
3. Tycoon Cards 1st Edition 12-Pocket Zip Binder
Tycoon Cards are new on the block, and have came out of the doors all guns blazing. They recently send us one of their first edition 12 pocket binders, and we were very impressed!
12 card binders are very big, 3 lines of 4 sleeves, allowing you to open up your trading card binder to be greeted with 24 cards on two pages, it looks stunning. We’ve filled ours with our beloved base set holos and the collection has never looked so good.
For those that want to house a lot of cards in one single binder, this is perfect for you. Perhaps it’s a large set that you want in one space, or you want to mix your sets into one ultimate collection? The Tycoon Cards binder will let you do that.
It features durable, ultra-padded exterior casing; secured with a zip to prevent dust and humidity damage to your collection. What’s extra nice is that they’ve added lightweight padding protection on all 20 integreated 12-pocket pages, to provide extra security for all 480 of your cards.
It has side loading access meaning they’ll stay put when dropped or bumped and all sleeves are made from archival-safe, acid-free non-pvc materials.
When you buy one of these binders, you’ll be supporting a small business, which always feels nice.
4. Ultra Guard Binder
The Ultra Guard 4 card binder is our go to portable binder. This little fella can hold up to 160 cards in a tiny, protective form factor.
We’ve been using these binder for years, taking it to and from a friends house in order to trade cards, or when we’re shooting a video on our cards somewhere other than our office.
The folder like any feels like a rubberised leather, the logo is embossed on the back and front and the tight zip-lock stops any dust, dirt or water getting to your collection.
It’s durable, well made, and the sleeves are put together perfectly. After two years of use, none of our sleeves have ripped nor torn, which just goes to show how durable these little binders are.
5. Ultra Pro Collectors Album
Now you’re probably thinking “But RetroDodo, where do I put all my bulk cards?”. Well do not fear, because the might Ultra Pro Collectors album is here!
This is a huge binder that allows you to add your own 9-12 page sleeves individually, with the extra benefit of adding dividers, letting you organise your collection in a way no other trading card binder lets you.
The collectors album has the collectors logo hot stamped in foil on the front cover and has a reinforced 3″ D-ring with a booster for quick loading pages. Around the binder, you have interior foam padding to keep your cards protected.
It fits standard 3-hole pages, which gives you the choice to buy top loading pages or side loading pages. You can fit near 1000 cards in this binder when full, but the more weight you add to it the more chances you are of causing issues with the binder.
We typically keep 500 – 600 cards in this binder, and it feels like the right ammount without it being too heavy. Because the binder isn’t super secure compared to some on this list, its where we store most of of our common, and uncommon cards in bulk.
With the addition of the side label you can easily write on the set and cards to keep things organise. This is by far one of the best trading card binders for large quantity cards.
So there’s a look at our best trading card binders for your collecting in year. We’ll update this article with more reviews when we test more binders, but in the mean time, happy collection!
A 29 year old fella that’s had a Gameboy addiction ever since he was a child. Brandon is the founder of RetroDodo and created a YouTube channel with 240,000 subscribers dedicated to retro gaming products. He now wants to create the No.1 site to showcase the latest retro products from around the globe.
