The act of breaking open a graded card’s plastic slab to remove the card. Common reasons include cross-grading (resubmitting to a different grading service), regrading (hoping for a higher grade), or selling the card raw.

Cracking destroys the original grading service’s chain-of-custody record. Once cracked, a card cannot be re-encapsulated under its original label — the grading service must re-evaluate from scratch.