As you know, collections and updates are made at regular intervals in CSGO and CS2. Each update means new cases and of course new skins. As such, hundreds or even thousands of different skins have accumulated in the game over the years. Since Valve is aware of this, it has developed a system called trade up contracts. According to this system, players can combine skins with the same rarity in their inventory and turn them into a much better skin. We would like to point out that there are some fine details of this trade up. For example, you may need to bring together a large number of skins with FN exteriors for case hardened AK trade up, which is one of the rarest skins of the game. Especially since this is the same for most skins, it is very important that you make quality choices for trade ups.
Unfortunately, most of the players who play CS2 still make mistakes because they do not understand the logic of trade up. Sometimes it is possible to encounter players who use minimal wear skins for their contracts and wait for Factory New to be released. We have prepared a detailed guide to prevent such situations. Thanks to our guide, you will be able to learn everything about CS2 trade up contracts. Now if you are ready, let’s get started and take a quick look at our guide.
What Is CS2 Trade Up Contracts?
Trade up contracts, which entered our lives with CSGO, continue at full speed with CS2. In short, if we need to talk about what it is, let’s assume that you have 10 skins of the same quality. After you put these 10 skins into trade up, it gives you 2 or 3 different skins randomly. However, these skins must be of much higher quality than the skins you add to the contract. Another important point is that these skins have drop percentages. For example, a much higher quality and more expensive skin may have a 20% chance to drop in the contract. Likewise, your chance of getting lower quality skins as drops is 80%. In short, we can say that it is a bit luck-oriented. However, if you add higher quality factory new skins to the contract, you can increase these percentage rates.
In general, trade up in the simplest way consists of all these details. Now we will go a little deeper and talk about much more important tips. We think that you can understand the working mechanics better in this way. If you are going to use trade ups to make profits, we definitely recommend you take a look at the rest of our guide.
How Does Trade Up Work?
There are some specific issues you need to know about CS2 trade up. For example, you cannot add every skin to trade up and create a contract as you wish. For this, you need to know the skin’s quality and wear rating. Of course, it’s not just these, there are also other details. Now, we will show you the things you should pay attention to in skins before trading up in a list.
- Skin Determination: Before you start trading in CS2, you should decide which skin you want to get as a drop. Then you will need to find the skins you need to create a contract. Please note that all skins must have the same wear rating, quality and collections to trade up. You cannot combine skins from other collections in trade up. By the way, you can use some trade up calculator tools to determine skin.
- Start Buying Skins: Now that you have determined the skin with the trade-up calculator, you can now proceed to the purchasing phase of 10 for the contract. There are many Chrome extensions on the market for this. You can search in detail in the Steam market and find skins with the wear rating or quality you want. You can even get the skins you want by creating a bulk buy order.
- Start Trade Up: Now that you have collected all the skins, you are ready to start the trade. To do this, simply login to the game and click on the trade up page from your inventory. Then, you should select the skins one by one and press the “Proceed” button. If you are lucky, you can get a much more valuable skin in this contract. Even if luck is not on your side, you will still have a higher model skin.
As you can see, the trade up usage mechanics are extremely easy. You just need to bring skins with similar features together. Of course, it is very important to first determine which skins you need with the calculator. Now let’s take a look at wear rating, quality, and other details.
Why Are Float Values Important for Trade Up?
At the beginning of our guide, we mentioned that some players do not fully understand trade ups. This issue is actually entirely related to wear rating. As you know, each skin has a float value in CS2. The better these float values are, the better the skin you want to get with trade up has the same quality. For example, let’s say you want to trade up with case hardened AK. If you want this skin to appear as factory new, you must definitely use factory new skins in the contracts. If some of the 10 skins you use for trade up have minimal wear or different ratings, unfortunately the quality of the skin you will obtain will decrease.
So, how exactly to understand the float value of a skin? This question is of critical importance. If you open any skin in your inventory and inspect it, you can see the wear rating. Now we have prepared a simple table so that you can fully understand float values from a mathematical perspective.
| Exterior | Float Values |
| Factory New | 0.00 – 0.07 |
| Minimal Wear | 0.07 – 0.15 |
| Field-Tested | 0.15 – 0.38 |
| Well-Worn | 0.38 – 0.45 |
| Battle-Scarred | 0.45 – 1.00 |
The table is very clear and understandable. You can easily understand which wear the skins you have by looking at their float values.
CS2 Trade Up Restrictions
Although it is quite easy to obtain skins with trade up contracts in CS2, we would like to say that there are some restrictions. Otherwise, if there were no restrictions, there would be no advantage in trading. So, let’s take a closer look at what exactly these restrictions are.
- Float Value: As we mentioned above, all skins you select for trade-up must have a similar wear rating. If you want a factory new drop, the 10 skins you reserved for the contract must be factory new. Otherwise, you cannot have the quality skin you desire.
- Rarity: In CS2, all skins have a certain rarity. The rarity of the skins you add to the contract when trading must be the same. If you haven’t heard of it before, the rarities in CS2 are as follows; Consumer Grade, Industrial Grade, Mil-Spec Grade, Restricted, Classified, and Covert.
- Collection Requirement: The most important restriction for trade-up is that the skins you have selected for the contract must belong to the same collection. For example, you cannot combine skins in The Anubis Collection and The Recoil Collection in the same trade-up. For this, you have to use the skins in the same collection.
- StatTrak: If you have StatTrak skins, there is an important point you should pay attention to when trading. Just like wear rating, if you want StatTrak skins, you only need to use StatTrak in trade up contracts. For example, if you use StatTrak with some random skins, it will not affect the outcome of that drop. On the contrary, we can say that you will use it in vain. In short, StatTrak skins should only be used with other StatTrak items in trade ups. If you make a trade-up like this, the skin you will receive as a 100% drop will have StatTrak.
These are the restrictions on CS2 trade up in general. As a small detail, we would like to point out that rare skins similar to AWP Dragon lore cannot be obtained through trade ups.
How to Trade Up in CS2?
Now we have come to explain how to do trade-up, which is the main subject of our guide. For this, we have prepared a guide with small steps for you. All you have to do is to have the skin you want by following the steps below. Without further ado, let’s quickly move on to our how-to guide.
- The first thing you need to do is log in to CS2. Then open the “Inventory” page on the main page of the game. Once you reach here, you will immediately see the “Trade up” button on the top right. This button will direct you directly to the trade up page.
- Now that you have opened the trade up page, you need skins. Remember that you must use skins with the same collection, wear rating, and rarity. Otherwise, you may not find the skin you want. Another important point is how you can buy such skins. There are some third-party tools available on the internet for these. In this way, you can buy skins with the wear rating you want or create a buy order with a single click.
- Now that you finally have all the 10 skins you want, we can go back to the trade up page. On this page, you need to select the 10 skins you have purchased one by one and create a contract. Finally, you can select the “Ready to Trade Up” option and click the “Proceed” button at the bottom right.
If you’re lucky, you can get the skin you want. We would like to remind you again that there is not a single skin in trade up. This naturally changes the percentage probability of skins dropping. We strongly recommend that you make all your adjustments based on this statistic.
Tactics to Make Profit with Trade Up Contracts
You may be wondering right now whether you can make money by trading up contracts. Of course, although there are some trade up opportunities, you generally need to follow important tips. Otherwise, you may get short-term gains. If your goal is to constantly make a profit, then we recommend that you pay more attention to what we write under this heading. If you’re ready, let’s start.
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Analyze CS2 Skin Market
First of all, it is necessary to always follow the float value of the skins when trading up. Because you will need skins with the same wear rating as possible. In this case, naturally, it can be really difficult to find 10 skins with the same wear rating. For exactly this situation, you need to conduct a detailed market analysis. There are some extensions and external programs designed specifically for Steam. But of course you may have concerns about security. This time, you can choose extensions used for Chrome.
Apart from all these, it is available on some third-party sites. For example, Buff163 is a huge platform where millions of skins are sold. You can buy the skins with the different wear ratings you need here. You can even create a buy order and sit back and wait for the sellers to reach you.
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Following the Trend
As you know, updates and new collections are constantly emerging for CS2. Since trade up is focused on collections, you may want to try your luck with new content in this way. Another important point is to follow the trend in prices. Some skins can drop to really cheap prices at certain intervals. Naturally, as its price decreases, it can be extremely advantageous in terms of trade-up.
As a matter of fact, trade-up is actually a system focused on making profits. In this system, the money for the 10 skins you spend should not be more expensive than the money for the new skin you will get. We can say that it becomes very important to follow the price trend in such situations. We strongly recommend that you follow skins that were previously high in price but have fallen in price recently. In this way, you can make serious profits, starting from at least 50% per product.
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Beware of Risks
Although randomly owning a skin is exciting, you need to be careful about trading up. While you enjoy the risk, we recommend making the process a little more transparent. However, if you want to act in a risky way, you can use your inventory with trade-ups as you wish. Especially for this situation, you do not have to look for skins with the same rarity and wear rating. The best advice we can give you is to use a trade up calculator. In this way, you can find out exactly which skins you can get when the 10 skins you have come together. In fact, since you can see the skins as a percentage, the process will be much more exciting and risky for you.
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Acting with Patience
We talked about taking risks in the tip above. However, we know that players who want to make a profit will not behave this way. The best logic is always to patiently try to buy skins with the same float value. As a matter of fact, we would like to say that real profit can be obtained in this way with the trade up contract. We recommend that you set an investment budget for yourself as much as possible and create a buy order for similar wear ratings.
However, remember that creating a buy order does not mean that you can buy those skins immediately. As a matter of fact, there are dozens of different CS2 players who think like you and they are literally waiting in line to buy it. To stand out among them, you must constantly follow market prices and patiently wait for the most suitable moment. Remember that the cheaper you buy skins for the contract, the higher profits you will make.
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Use Trade Up Calculator
The most important detail in the contracts created for trade up has always been calculations and mathematics. Remember that you cannot get any skin with a 100% chance. In this regard, having the skin you love may require you to do a little more detailed math calculations. But for this, you need to take into account some really subtle calculations.
Of course, it is not easy to make such fine adjustments. However, there are trade up calculators and different simulators that systematize this situation for you. It is possible to use calculators as if you were actually creating contracts in CS2. Moreover, you can add the skin you want to the trade up with the float value you want and see the possible results as a percentage. At this point, it is really useful to pay attention to the percentages. Otherwise, some skins may cause you serious harm rather than making you profit. Therefore, before trading realistically, do not forget to use a calculator from third-party sites. In this way, you protect yourself from unnecessary financial losses.
Tools You Can Use When Making Trade Up Contracts
In our article, we constantly mentioned that there are tools you can use when trading. Undoubtedly, most players who make money by trading up these tools are already using them. Under this heading, we prepared a guide for those who are new to making money with trade up contracts. In this guide, you will be able to learn the trade up calculator and other market tools. Now, if you want, let’s take a closer look at the details of these issues.
Trade Up Calculator
Trade Up Calculator is a very simple tool that is frequently used in the market. If you want, you can search on Google by typing “Trade Up Calculator”. Generally, the site that appears first is always much more useful. We are already thinking of using that kind of site when giving our examples. First of all, Trade Up Calculator actually works exactly with CS2’s database. In short, drop amounts and percentages will be exactly the same as CS2.
For example, let’s say you created a contract with factory new MP9 hypnotic skins. When you add 10 of these skins, you will see P90 Cold Blooded and UPS-S Serum skins. Moreover, right below it will show the prices and the percentage probability that you can get it as a drop. The percentage value you see here is exactly the same as CS2. If you enter the game yourself and create the contract, you will have the chance to find these skins with the same percentage.
In short, at this point we can say that trade up calculators actually simulate a scenario. Before having a realistic experience, you can observe which skins you can potentially buy by listing the skins you have here.
How to Use Trade Up Calculator?
We talked in detail about the working mechanics of the Trade Up Calculator and how it can be useful for you. Now we want to explain how you can use these simulators. Of course, we have prepared a guide with short steps for this. You can see these steps one by one below.
- First, find a reliable and frequently used trade up calculator site. At this point, we can recommend CSFloat to you.
- After you enter the site, you will probably see the calculator section right away. In this section, you can find the skins you have or different skins by clicking on the place where it says “Search Items”. If you click on the skin after selecting it, you will see that the skin is immediately transferred to the empty menu on the left. You have the right to choose 10 skins in total. We would also like to remind you that if you wish, you can adjust the wear rating in the “Float Value” section under these skins.
- When you have made all the adjustments, you can scroll down the calculator page and see the skin you can get as a result of the contracts.
That’s it! You can get information about trade ups in a more transparent way with just a few clicks. We think that simulators are extremely useful, especially for those who do not want to take risks and are looking for profitable contracts.
Extensions and Other Tools
When it comes to the CS2 and skin market, you can find many tools on the market. We especially strongly recommend the use of tools that fully scan the market and offer you various filtering details. Moreover, it is extremely useful that such tools are offered free of charge as browser extensions. So exactly what tools do you need to use? For this reason, we would like to talk about an application that most players use, namely CSFloat Market Checker.
This tool can be added directly to Chrome and Opera as an extension. Then, all you have to do is log in to Steam via the website. You will now be able to find all skins by searching with a single click thanks to these tools. If you remember, we mentioned at the top of our article that you should buy skins with similar float values for profitable trade ups. In such scenarios, you definitely have to use CSFloat Market Checker. Of course, you can find many different tools on the market. However, in terms of reliability, only CSFloat has proven itself for now.
What are the Most Profitable Trade Up Contracts?
The CS2 market is a market dominated by high volatility. For example, a skin you previously saw for 10 dollars may rise to 15 dollars a few days later. This means an increase of almost 50%. Generally, price fluctuation in all skins affects the trade up greatly. That’s why you need to carry out trade up suggestions as quickly as possible. Otherwise, unfortunately, that profitable amount will be spoiled.
Now, we will start with our main topic, case hardened AK trade up. Then we will talk about trade up contracts, from cheap to expensive. If you are ready, let’s move on to trade up suggestions without further ado.
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Case Hardened AK-47 Trade Up – High Risk!
We first start our CS2 recommendations with case hardened AK trade up. We will examine this trade up opportunity in two different ways. Unfortunately, in this first examination, the probability of an AK case hardened is 5%. Frankly, even if you get the best of all the remaining skins, you will still lose money. In fact, this trade up contract recommendation is only valid for those who want to remove this skin very much.
If you want to make a profit, please continue with our 2nd trade up suggestion. Now we will list the skins you need for the AK case hardened skin according to their wear. In this way, you will be able to understand which skins you should buy.
- 5 MP9 | Hypnotic [Factory New]
- 4 Nova | Graphite [Factory New]
- 1 USP-S | Dark Water [Minimal Wear]
These are the weapons you need to buy when creating a contract. At the time we were preparing our guide, the total price of these skins was $141.13. Probably these prices will have increased even more after a few weeks.
Although the main target in the contract is the hardened AK-47 case, there are a total of 3 different skins. The skins you can remove respectively are; P90 | Cold Blooded, USP-S | Serum and Desert Eagle | It is Hypnotic.
High Budget Trade Up
Now we will talk about a higher probability opportunity for the case hardened AK trade up. Unfortunately, this trade up we have prepared is very, very expensive. However, the chances here are 10% higher than the contract in the upper title. So, you will be able to get the case hardened AK-47 with a 15% chance with the trade up we will talk about now. If you want, let’s take a look at the list of skins you need for the contract.
- 4 Dual Berettas | Hemoglobin (Factory New)
- 3 MP9 | Hypnotic (Factory New)
- 2 USP-S | Dark Water (Minimal Wear)
- 1 M4A1-S | Dark Water (Minimal Wear)
The total price of these skins we have prepared for Contract is currently traded at $535.31. If you decide to create a contract, definitely keep this price in mind.
There are 3 more skins in trade up, except the case hardened AK-47. But unfortunately it does not meet the contract price. In fact, no matter which skin you find other than case hardened AK, you will still lose hundreds of dollars. For this reason, we would like to remind you again that this trade up suggestion is only for those who want to remove the case hardened AK-47.
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SSG 08 – Acid Fade | MAG-7 Copper Coated
Now we will talk about a slightly lower budget trade up. You will have an average chance of making a profit of 57% on this trade up. Of course, if you are a little luckier, you can earn more. Our aim in this trade up is to make you profit in terms of money in the best way possible. In short, we would like to point out that there is no special skin. In the list below, you can see the skins you need to add to the contract.
- 7 SSG 08 | Acid Fade (Factory New)
- 3 MAG-8 | Copper Coated (Field-Tested)
The total price of these skins we have prepared for the contract is currently traded at $535.31. If you decide to create a contract, definitely keep this price in mind.
If we look at the trade up output in terms of earnings, we can say that there are 4 different skins. The only skin that will hurt you here is M4A1-S | It is Nitro. The probability of appearing in this skin is 43.75%. In short, we would like to point out that you have more than a 50% chance of making a profit.
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UMP 45 Roadblock – Glock-18 Winterized | Profit Amount $0.23 (37.0%)
We are here with another opportunity that will make you profit, even if it is small. Although the amount of profit here is very low, it can create a serious profit margin when repeated continuously. However, the problem here is to find the appropriate wear rating models of the skins you need for trade up. There are 2 different skins in this contract. You can see the details of the skins in the list below.
- 6 UMP-45 | Roadblock (Field-Tested)
- 4 Glock-18 | Winterized (Minimal Wear)
Creating a buy order on these skins in May 2024 to create the contract will cost you a total of 0.60 dollars. Frankly, we think the price is extremely ideal for low-budget CS2 players.
You can see 5 different skins as output in trade up. All of these skins allow you to make a small profit. However, we would like to remind you again that these prices were valid when we wrote the article. Please be sure to check the trade up calculator for current pricing.
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G3SG1 | Orange Crash – SG 553 | Heavy Metal: Profit Amount $0.76 (43.1%)
Now we want to talk about a rather complicated trade up. This contract has many skins as output. But in general, we can say that it will never cause any loss. There are two different skins in the trade up we have planned, but you must purchase these skins as Factory new and minimal wear. It will probably take a lot of your time to find skins quickly in the CS2 market. However, now let’s take a quick look at which skins you will create the contract with.
- 6 SG 553 | Heavy Metal (Minimal Wear)
- 4 G3SG1 | Orange Crash (Factory New)
We always prepare very cheap trade ups considering the budgets of CS2 players. Currently, you can buy this trade up for exactly $1.76. However, the price will probably either rise very high or drop considerably in a few weeks.
The number of skins you can obtain at the end of the contract is quite high. But in general, all of them will make you a certain amount of profit. Some skins can even allow you to make a net profit of up to a maximum of $1.
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AK-47 | Nightwish (Factory New): Profit Amount $35.41, 50% Chance
Up to this point in our trade up list, we have constantly talked about low-budget contracts. Now we are here with a slightly more expensive trade up. You may need to allocate a really large amount of money for this trade up. Moreover, unfortunately, there is no definite chance of winning. We can even say that the earning opportunity is 50/50. Now let’s briefly talk about the skin in the contract.
- 9 MP7 | Abyssal Apparition (Minimal Wear)
- 1 MP7 | Abyssal Apparition (Factory New)
The net price of these skins we have listed is $30.76 as of May 2024. By the way, when purchasing the skin, please pay attention to the minimal wear and factory new versions.
If we go back to the trade up output, we see two different skins. The skin that will really make you profit is AK-47 | We can say that it is Nightwish. This skin is traded on the CS2 market for $66.17. We would like to point out that your probability of finding this skin is exactly 50%. The other skin that will put you in harm is MP9 | Starlight Protector which sells for $16.53. If you have an unlucky day and find this skin, you will lose nearly 50%. Likewise, we can say that you can get more than 100% profit if you get the AK-47 Nightwish skin.
Conclusion
Since the day trade up came to CSGO and CS2, we may encounter contracts that will sometimes make a profit and sometimes make a loss. That’s exactly why we wanted to prepare a detailed guide on the trade up system. You can find many topics in our guide, from trade up tools to the importance of float values. We even prepared a title on the case hardened AK trade up, which is extremely difficult to find. You can try your luck to find the case hardened AK-47 skin with these trade ups that include certain amounts in terms of price.
Likewise, we tried to offer extremely profitable opportunities for low-budget CS2 players. We think our article can help players in every aspect. We can say that the topics we explained, especially the trade up calculator and CSFloat extension, are extremely useful. Because in this way, you can get the chance to learn the trade up results transparently. Another important point is that there are extensions that you can search in the CS2 market according to float values. Of course, we talked about these extensions in detail in our article. We hope you can clearly understand the logic of trade up and enjoy making profits.