Although skins in Counter-Strike 2 are purely cosmetic, they have evolved into something much more important. It’s hard to believe that some of these skins can be valued at tens of thousands of dollars, and there is an active investment in stickers comparable to real-life stocks.
This detailed trading guide covers the essence of skins, provides tips on how to start making money with them, explains the correct method for valuing skins, explains the concept of liquidity, recommends trading platforms, and much more. This is an excellent guide for beginners who want to master the art of skin trading.
What are skins in CS2?
Let’s start with the basics. A skin in CS2 is a cosmetic item that changes the appearance of a player’s weapon, gloves, or model. These visual changes do not affect gameplay and do not change weapon characteristics; their use is limited solely to visual design aspects. Each skin is a unique item found in Steam users’ inventories. Owners of skins have the opportunity to transfer them to other users or receive similar items from other Steam members.
What is the essence of trading skins?
Skin trading in CS2 is the process of exchanging, purchasing or selling in-game items. Players actively participate in this process for various reasons. Some strive to create a consistent inventory by maintaining a specific color scheme, while others prefer to sell skins to add new acquisitions to their game library. The motives for entering the world of skin trading can be numerous. The entire trading process is carried out on Steam, where, as a result of the exchange, the skin is moved from one inventory to another.
What Beginners Should Know
Indeed, getting started with skin trading is not that difficult. To do this, it is worth doing a little preparation, which can be divided into two key stages: technical and theoretical. On the technical side, it is important for a future trader to prepare his account for exchanges. To do this you need:
- Create a Steam account if you don’t already have one;
- Activate two-factor authentication, fill out your profile and make several purchases on Steam. This will help avoid account restrictions;
- Get several skins for exchange.
As part of theoretical preparation, the future trader should delve into the peculiarities of the functioning of the skins market in CS:GO. Particular attention should be paid to security issues and protection against fraud. One of the common methods of fraud is sharking. In this case, an unscrupulous trader tries to significantly reduce the value of the skin during the exchange. Sharking can lead to serious financial losses for new traders. To avoid such situations, it is important to wisely evaluate the value of your skins and inventory.
How to evaluate skins and analyze the market
Determining the cost of a skin is a task that requires a careful approach. You can’t just go to the Steam Market, type the name of the skin into the search and consider the specified price to be its final price. This assessment technique is not always reliable for several reasons. Firstly, the Steam marketplace does not have prices for many rare and unique knives that are simply not listed for sale. Secondly, the dynamics of the market and the influence of various factors can significantly change the cost of a skin, making the process of evaluating it extremely difficult.
To reliably determine the cost of a skin, you need to take into account two important aspects. First of all, you need to familiarize yourself with the different skin trading platforms to calculate the average and current price. Secondly, you should understand the factors that influence the cost of the selected skin. Among these factors are:
- Wear condition;
- Pattern number;
- The presence of a kill counter;
- The presence of stickers or stripes;
- Unique features.
To accurately estimate the cost of a skin, you need to know as much as possible about it. For example, gloves can significantly lose value if there are abrasions on the knuckles. Thus, even with approximately the same wear, two pairs of identical gloves can differ in price by 15-20%.
What are liquids?
Skins in the form of assets are similar to other forms of assets, and liquid ones are distinguished in this category. Liquid assets are those that can be easily and quickly sold, minimizing losses or even avoiding them completely.
An excellent example of marketable skin is the AK-47 Redline Field-Tested. This skin has been in the game for a long time; its price is stable, and its popularity among players is high. Thanks to these factors, any trader can quickly and successfully convert AK-47 Redline Field-Tested into cash. As a result, this skin is considered a liquid asset.
Where is it more profitable to trade skins?
There are two common options for getting new skins. The first is the use of various trading platforms. However, to do this, the user has to top up the account with real money and use it to buy new skins.
The second option is CSGO jackpot. What’s the point? So that users can win new skins without spending money on them.
It works quite simply. Let’s give an example of the csgojackpot.cash service. You simply connect to the site through STEM. Add those skins that you do not need and participate in the drawing. If you win, you will be given new skins that were up for grabs. This is a great way to expand your collection by getting rid of old skins.
