Trading in Counter-Strike has changed DRASTICALLY throughout the past 10+ years, from more person-to-person trading in 2014 to bot trading sites dominating the landscapes of skin exchanges in 2024.



First things first, here is a little about me! This is my first-ever guide, I'd even consider this a rough and working draft, so if this somehow manages to get a lot of light out of nowhere please give me some slack! I work a full-time job (active duty military) and do this all as a hobby. I traded in the high tier bracket of both CSGO and TF2 starting in 2014, working my way from a Flip Knife | Urban Masked (FT) to an M4A4 | Howl (MW), stepping away in 2020 after graduating high school for Marine Corps boot camp. The intent of this guide is to share what I have gathered wholeheartedly, without having the time to do extensive research, I have figured most of this out on my own. If you know something more or believe something in this guide should be changed to better accommodate future viewers, please let me know down below! Thank you!

I personally only trade utilizing these bot sites nowadays as there are no longer reliable person-to-person trading sites like there used to be (ex. csgo lounge; there is a current website out there: csgotraders.net, which attempts to mimic what the lounge used to be like, it just doesn't get much traffic and is filled with bots. Big Surprise.) however there are alternatives such as marketplaces where you can sell your skins individually for site balance.



I will not be covering the online marketplace site method of "trading" in this guide as marketplace sites are a beast of their own, however, I will note that some of the best marketplace sites with the lowest commission are: Gamerpay.gg and D-Market.

Now before we get into ANYTHING, let's start with the basics.

The standard price that is typically used is based on a website called Buff163. However, Buff (the largest cash marketplace for cs skins) is no longer as prominent because recently the site was restricted to Chinese residents only. I believe today that price is more subjective to preference, so for now, I will explain how to use the Steam Market price, my personal preference as it is convenient, consistent, and right in front of you when you open up your Steam inventory.





How to determine your skin's ACTUAL Steam Market Price
When determining the steam market price nowadays, you have to take note of both the lowest asking price, and the last sold prices. LOOK AT THE MARKET GRAPH. Example 1: If the lowest asking price for your skin is $69.00, and the graph shows it has been selling for $66, $70, and most recently $69, you have a very stable skin and can take the lowest asking price of $69.00 as your reference. Example 2: If the lowest asking price for your skin is $420.69, however, the graph shows that it has sold twice in the past month for $289.00 and $361.72, you should use $361.72 as your baseline as it serves as the median price compared to what it is listed for currently vs. what it has been selling for.

Now that you know how to properly price your skins, here is a list of all of the current active CS2 trading and market websites. This is an invaluable resource to reference when trading at all today to ensure you are getting the best value for your money when trading --> https://totalcsgo.com/skins/skin-trading-sites <--

My current preference in trading sites is cs.trade, which has a 3-5% commission. It does not offer the best commission rate, however, it is the best option in my opinion compared to others as it has the best inventory to choose from.

How to VERIFY what percent(%) commission your respective trading site is taking:

1. Open up your notepad and note what the respective website values your skin at, then next to it, note the steam market current asking price of your skin that you either intend to trade or whichever skin you'd like to use as a reference. This will provide you a baseline of how much more or less the website is valuing your skin than the steam market's price. Keep this in the back of your head.

2. Take note of how much the website is asking for their skin, then repeat step one and note the steam market price for the website's skin.

3. Compare the differences!

\/ Here is an example \/

Lowest Commission Site(s) [BEST VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY]:
CS.Trade (My current preference) - 3-5% commission rate; While not offering the most ideal rate, this site has one of the largest inventories to choose from.

Highest Commission Site(s) [STAY AWAY FROM THESE SITES]:
Tradeit.gg - Highest commission rate of 8%, stay away from this site unless you're ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ desperate for a very particular skin.
CS.Money - 2nd Highest commission rate of 7%, one of the OG trading bot sites with probably the biggest inventory, however the rates are quite ridiculous. Recommend as a last resort.

Now that you know how to price your skins and what your trading site options are, how do you make a profit in 2025?

The answer is quite simple. MARKET GRAPHS!

This is how I make my extra change in CS nowadays. The trick is to trade on sites with the lowest commissions and invest in items that have rapidly rising/gradually rising market graphs.

Examples of items to look for:

• Niche collection skins - Greatest Short-term Profit - (Ex. Skins from the St. Marc Collection, Norse Collection, and Cobblestone Collection; The trick is that people use these skins for trade-ups to extensively valuable reds within the respective collections. You can't go wrong with investing in even light-blue quality skins from these collections.)
  
• Old stickers - Greatest Long-term Profit - (Ex. Katowice 2015 team stickers, Cologne 2015 team stickers, Cluj Napoca 2015 team stickers)
  
• Agent Skins - These have seen a RAPID increase in value over time and as value continues to not re-release agents, the price should continue to rise. HOWEVER, if Valve does release agents again in the future, expect to see prices drop dramatically with the off chance that the top-tier agent skins may retain their value more because of their rarity.

Examples of items NOT to look for:

• Knives (Most knives today are relatively unstable and are not great investments. If you are working with a higher budget, look for Blue Gem knives in the Case Hardened family.)
  
• New Weapon Skins (This should be a given, however, but if you are new to the game, skins that are just released from new collections typically decrease in price over a prolonged period until they settle. See market graphs for reference.)
  
• New Sticker Capsules/Stickers (Because of the extreme influx in investing in capsules today, it likely won't be for another 5-10 years, if ever, that we see profit from sticker capsules today. That's my hot-take at least.)

With that being said, hopefully now have a better idea of how to navigate the CS2 trading landscape of today and better understand the dynamic of bot trading sites, how to price-check your skins, how to not get screwed over by high-commission sites, and maybe how to make a few bucks!



Best of Luck on your trading journey this New Year and Happy Holidays!

- ant0nino

Thank you for taking the time to read my first guide for CS2!

I would love to hear any feedback in the comments of this guide. If you enjoyed it please be sure to rate, award and favorite! If enough ratings come through, I may just make another one that goes more in depth on my rhythm of trading and investing today!