A Note Before the Clock Turns…

We talk a lot about nostalgia here at Rally. I kinda feel like we’re allowed to more than others who are just doing it for the aesthetic or the memory farming, because its also out business to a certain extend. 

Around the holidays and in the final stretch before NYE, more than any other time of year, there’s a particular feeling that settles in.

Not resolution-season optimism or the childhood nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake… its more like taking inventory at the end of a long shift at a restaurant or looking at the empty apartment you’re moving out of before arranging all your worldly belongings in your new home. It’s a space that was, and a space that is, simultaneously. The end is sometimes chaotic, but the beginning gives you a chance to arrange things the way you really wanted to all year. 

This particular transition into a new year feels a bit like that in-between state after a 2025 was loud in all the ways that matter. Not just for Rally, but across collecting, markets, and culture. Objects kept proving they still have gravity, even when everything else feels increasingly weightless and often created out of thin air.

We watched records fall. Some expected. Some uncomfortable. Some that made people argue in comment sections like it was 1998 again. Dinosaur skeletons clearing eight figures. Sports memorabilia inching closer to fine art pricing. A continued separation between real rarity and things that only felt rare during cheap-money years. The market matured in ways that I don’t think anyone expected.

The last time prices and collectible markets moved like this, there was a pandemic and record low interest rates to blame. This time, it feels “real.”

At Rally, we crossed thresholds that didn’t feel theoretical anymore. New categories that used to raise eyebrows now finding their way into every storied auction house as featured lots and getting mainstream coverage that was previously part of the cute little end-of-show montage of counter-culture coverage. 

Real liquidity events, wins and misses, handled in public (the way markets are supposed to work). Education coming in the form of storytelling that precedes price discovery. Assets graduating from “internet curiosity” to “institutional conversation” are where this year landed, and are speeding fast into the headlines of 2026. 

Outside our walls, the rest of the financial world kept remixing itself…

Crypto quietly grew up in places no one expected with multi-billion dollar infrastructure platforms reaching international maturity, and the “boring” things that actually matter becoming the focus of both retail and institutions. 

Prediction markets stopped being a novelty and started behaving like early price signals. Equities pushed into all-time highs again, daring everyone to decide whether optimism is irresponsible or just historically correct.

And through all of it, collecting stayed [stubbornly] human.

People still chased objects because they meant something before they were worth something. They still argued over condition, provenance, story. They still showed up to see things with their own eyes - in person btw, which is a huge theme that we see carrying into the new year and well beyond. The changes to our landscape in 2025 weren’t that crazy, but the small changes and evolution of finance and collectibles are speeding up faster than ever. 

As we look toward 2026, the goal isn’t to move faster for the sake of it.

It’s to be more deliberate.

More liquidity from the markets outside of just Rally, clearer structure, and far more transparency around what we know (and what we don’t). A deeper respect for the difference between speculation and ownership. Fewer gimmicks in and around the space in which we operate and more conviction.

The next chapter of Rally isn’t about making collectibles just act like stocks. It’s about building markets that respect why they never were a full on “stock market” in the first place.

Thank you for being part of this always interesting, sometimes-wacky, but (in our opinion) beautiful corner of finance. We’re forever appreciative of you all for asking hard questions, holding us accountable, and for continuing to care about objects that carry real history.

We’ll see you in the new year.

Same curiosity. Sharper focus. Better stories.

Happy holidays, Happy New Year, and cheers to what’s coming next - for you and those you hold close.Wishing everyone a warm holiday season - whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or simply time with people you care about. 

Until Next Year…