How Before the Slab Works
A simple walkthrough of Before the Slab events, outcomes, community conviction, and resolution.
Updated 2026-06-03
Before the Slab is easiest to understand as a grading window with memory. The card is not back yet. The market still has an opinion.
The product captures that opinion before the result exists, then resolves the event once the official grading outcome is known.
The flow
- A collector opens or joins a grading event.
- The event defines possible grading outcomes, such as PSA 10, PSA 9, or PSA 8 or lower.
- Participants take positions based on what they believe the grade will be.
- The card receives an official grading result.
- The event resolves based on the verified outcome.
- The market creates a record of collector conviction before the result existed.
Event types
The current product can support market-only events where the event is the experience itself. Future seller, card-owner, creator, shop, or regrader events are directionally interesting, but they should be framed as future product possibilities unless they are live in the product.
The useful primitive is community consensus. People already argue about what a card will grade. Before the Slab turns that into a surface with rules, states, and memory.
What this is not
This is not a promise of upside. It is not legal or regulatory certainty. It is not a claim that JK Index authenticates the card or that a grading company endorses the event.
The product should stay careful: practice markets where practice markets are live, future real rails only when they are actually ready, and clear resolution rules for every event.