With weapon skins being such an integral part of keeping Counter-Strike alive, Valve has created a feature for players to try and upgrade their skins into better ones. This system is called the “Trade Up Contract,” a way for players to turn weapon skins into something more valuable.
What Are Trade Up Contracts In CS:GO?
The Trade Up Contract is a feature that every Counter-Strike player immediately has access to. It is free to access, but players will have to offer skins in order to use it.
In a Trade Up Contract, a player is trading ten weapon skins of the same weapon grade from any collection to obtain one new weapon skin of the following weapon grade tier. The upgraded weapon is randomly chosen from one of the collections used.
How Do CS:GO Trade Ups Work?
To execute a Trade Up Contract, a player must own at least ten weapon skins of the same rarity. For example, ten Mil-Spec skins (blue rarity) or ten Restricted skins (purple rarity). These skins can vary in price, wear condition, or collections.
After placing the ten skins in the Trade Up Contract, players will be prompted to confirm their actions. By performing one, players are essentially agreeing to burn these ten skins for only one skin of the next rarity.
Once the Trade Up Contract is signed, the game will reward you with a random upgraded weapon skin from any collection that was included in any of the ten skins initially placed.
All the skins the player placed will disappear from their inventory, and the newly-acquired skin will immediately appear.
How To Trade Up In CS:GO
Using a Trade Up Contract can be done directly in the Counter-Strike client. Here is a step-by-step guide of how to initiate and complete a Trade Up Contract.
- Launch your Counter-Strike client and go to your in-game Inventory.
- Next, right-click one of the skins you want to use in the Trade Up Contract. Then, hit “Use With Trade Up Contract.”
- You will be brought to the Trade Up Contract menu, where only eligible skins of the same rarity can be included in the contract.
- Start inserting the skins you would like to use for the Trade Up Contract. You will need a total of 10.
- Once all the skins are in place, click the “Proceed” button to start the Trade Up.
The Trade Up Contract will immediately begin, and you will receive a new skin after the process has ended. You cannot take back the skins you have placed, since they are essentially gone for good.
Things You Need To Know About Trade Up Contracts
Let’s not pull the trigger on a Trade Up Contract yet. There are more things you need to know before blindly throwing in your skins in a Trade Up Contract.
Trade Up Contract Odds
As mentioned earlier, players can put weapon skins from different collections in the exact Trade Up Contract, as long as the weapons are of similar rarity. As a result, the player will receive a skin of higher rarity from one of the collections used in the contract.
The chances of getting skins from specific collections are equal – there’s a 10% chance for every weapon skin in the contract.
For example, a player has placed:
- Five skins from the Chroma Collection
- Two skins from the Prisma Collection
- Three skins from the Clutch Collection
Then, the odds of receiving a skin from any of the collections are:
- 50% chance for a skin from the Chroma Collection
- 20% chance for a skin from the Prisma Collection
- 30% chance for a skin from the Clutch Collection
This is why you might have seen players do a 10% “Dragon Lore Trade Up,” where they would only put a singular M4A1-S | Knight and fill the rest of the contract with cheap Classified skins (pink rarity). They will have a 1 in 10 chance of pulling an AWP | Dragon Lore but can increase the odds by adding more M4A1-S | Knight skins.
That being said, it is possible to place ten copies of the M4A1-S | Knight for a guaranteed Dragon Lore. However, the price of 10 Knights exceeds the price of a Dragon Lore.
Do Float Values Affect Trade Up Results?
You might be wondering if the wear of the skin is entirely random too. The answer is no, the outcome of the skin’s condition depends on the float values of the skins placed in the contract.
Using a dedicated formula, the game will consider the skin with the lowest float value, highest float value, and average float value of all the skins in the contract.
If you place eight Field-Tested skins and 2 Factory New skins, the chances of the Trade Up reward being a Field-Tested skin is incredibly high. So, it is essential for you to consider the wear of the skins you place in the contract.
YouTubers and prominent traders like Sparkles are constantly doing “#1 Float Trade Ups,” where they could collect ten skins that have incredibly low float values, put them together in a contract, and produce a skin with a similar float value.
Here is a chart displaying the float values to their conditions:
| Float Value | Skin Condition |
| 0.00 – 0.07 | Factory New |
| 0.07 – 0.15 | Minimal Wear |
| 0.15 – 0.37 | Field-Tested |
| 0.37 – 0.44 | Well-Worn |
| 0.44 – 1.00 | Battle-Scarred |
Limitations To Trade Up Contracts
A system like the Trade Up Contract will obviously have some boundaries. Here are some of the most relevant skin types the Trade Up Contract cannot process:
StatTrak And Normal Skins
You cannot combine StatTrak skins and non-StatTrak skins in the same Trade Up Contract. You can only place 10 StatTrak skins or ten regular ones in the same contract.
Souvenir Skins
Souvenir skins cannot be used for Trade Up Contracts. However, the regular version of a Souvenir skin can. This is why you have never seen anybody perform a Souvenir | AWP Dragon Lore contract.
Covert Weapon Skins
The next tier after a Covert (red rarity) weapon skin is an Exceedingly Rare Special Item, which is either a knife or gloves. It is impossible to trade up for a knife or gloves, so Covert skins cannot be used in a contract. The highest skin rarity is Classified (pink rarity).
Knives or Gloves
As discussed previously, knives and gloves cannot be used as rewards from a Trade Up Contract, so it doesn’t make sense to include ten knives or gloves in a contract as there is nothing above them.
Skins That Do Not Have A Next Highest Grade In A Collection
There are some cases of weapon skins that are unusable despite not being a Classified (pink rarity) skin. For example, the Tec-9 | Ossified is a Mil-Spec (blue rarity) skin. However, it cannot be used in a Trade Up Contract. This is because it comes from the Aztec Collection, where the highest rarity is Mil-Spec.
Can You Make Profit From Trading Up?
The Trade Up Contract feature has been in the game since 20213, and the community isn’t dense. The system has had a significant impact on how weapon skins are priced. As a result, one cannot simply find a Trade Up Contract that offers guaranteed profit.
The Cobblestone Collection Example
Let’s go back to the popular AWP | Dragon Lore Trade Up Contract as an example. The Cobblestone Collection only has one Covert (red rarity) skin, which is the AWP | Dragon Lore. A Factory New version costs around $12,000.
The M4A1-S | Knight is a Classified (pink rarity) skin in the same collection. You can put ten of them in a contract and get a guaranteed Dragon Lore. However, the biggest problem is one Factory New M4A1-S | Knight costs nearly $3,000 each. So, putting 10 Knights for a Dragon Lore will automatically net you a $17,000 loss.
The primary way of profiting through Trade Up Contracts is essentially gambling. Instead of ten, you could try putting one or two M4A1-S | Knights for a 10-20% chance at a Dragon Lore and make a big profit if it hits.
Frankly, the risk of “gambling” on Trade Up Contracts is far greater than the reward. You can buy four Knights for $12,000 and have a 40% chance of getting a Dragon Lore that will net you $12,000 – it doesn’t take a scientist to tell you it’s not worth it.
The Bravo Collection Example
Though we’ve been harping about the Cobblestone Collection trade up, every other collection has a similar story.
Another example is the Bravo Collection, where players would aim for the AK-47 | Fire Serpent. You can buy a P2000 | Ocean Foam in Factory New condition for roughly $180. An AK-47 | Fire Serpent in Factory New condition is worth $2,500.
Sounds fantastic, right? You can buy 10 Ocean Foams for $1,800 and potentially get a Fire Serpent for $700. However, it’s not that simple. There are two Covert (red rarity) skins in the Bravo Collection, with the other being the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi, worth $130 in Factory New condition.
So, you will have to do a 50-50 coin flip, with the outcomes being a Fire Serpent, which would be profit, or a Golden Koi, which would be a considerable loss. Even if you get the Fire Serpent, you are only profiting less than half of your investment at a 50% chance. The odds are simply terrible.
Simply put, “easy money” does not exist in the world, and the same concept can be applied to Trade Up Contracts. You can only profit from contracts if you are taking risks, such as 10 to 40% chance contracts.
Best Tools For Trade Up Contracts
If you are still willing to take a gamble by performing Trade Up Contracts, let’s ensure you at least do it right. It is vital that you know your exact odds and outcomes before you sign that contract.
Members of the Counter-Strike community have created tools that aid players with calculating Trade Up Contracts.
The most helpful tool for Trade Up Contracts is the “Trade Up Contract Calculator” made by CSFloat, a website dedicated to providing players with free trading tools.
With this tool, you can add all the skins you plan to include in a Trade Up Contract and see the potential outcomes and estimated profit or loss. Keep in mind that almost every single contract will display a negative estimated value for the reasons we’ve discussed above.
Additionally, you can use marketplace websites such as the Steam Community Market or third-party websites to calculate the value of your skins and ensure you make educated decisions when placing your items in a contract.
Best CS2 Trade Up Calculators
Now that we have a good understanding of Trade Up Contracts and their calculators, let’s go over the two best Trade Up Calculators you can use to make smart Trade Ups.
CSFloat Trade Up Calculator
As the name may suggest already, CS Float is a marketplace website that is very focused on the float values of skins. We have learned earlier that float values play a relatively large role in a Trade Up Contract, which is why you should be well-informed about the skins you put in.
Fortunately, the CS Float website is all about float values. As a result, you will always have detailed information on the average float value you can expect to see on the skin that comes out of the Trade Up Contract. You can also enter the exact float value for each of the skins you are putting in the Trade Up Contract.
Other than float values, the CS Float Trade Up Calculator does everything you expect it to. It will inform you of the potential outcomes, as well as the expected gain or loss from the Trade Up Contract in question.
Additionally, we give the website plus points because they have a sleek user interface that ensures you have a great experience navigating through the website. CS Float is also one of the best marketplace platforms at the moment, so you can be assured that all the prices of skins are very accurate and reliable.
Trade Up Spy Calculator
The Trade Up Spy website was essentially created for players to find profitable Trade Up Contracts. However, Trade Up Contracts can never be profitable in the long run. This is because when more players learn about a guaranteed profitable Trade Up Contract, they will continue performing the contract until the skins in the market rise up in price.
The goal of the Trade Up Spy website is to inform players of profitable Trade Up Contracts. However, these contracts are only profitable for a limited amount of time, so players must keep checking the website often.
Other than the guaranteed Trade Up Contracts, you can use the Trade Up Spy website as a regular Trade Up Contract calculator. You can see complete information on what to expect from a Trade Up Contract, from the odds, potential outcomes, and expected profit or loss.
Additionally, you can also log into the website and link your Steam inventory, allowing you to easily put in your skins in a calculation to see if you have any unique opportunities. There are other useful features on the Trade Up Spy website that will give you a seamless experience.
Other than the two websites we have mentioned, no other platform does a good job as these two websites do, so there are no other alternatives worth mentioning. We think CS Float and Trade Up Spy will suffice for anyone looking to calculate advanced Trade Up Contracts for free
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.
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.