Valve dropped an unannounced Counter-Strike 2 update that flipped the skin economy on its head. Players can now trade up to knives and gloves for the first time in CS history.
The change immediately shook up the market. Knife and glove prices crashed as supply suddenly increased. Meanwhile cheaper red-tier skins spiked in value because they became the ingredients needed for these new trade-ups.
Before this update, knives and gloves only came from case openings or direct trades. They existed in a separate tier that trade-up contracts couldn’t touch. This kept supply limited and prices high.
The new system lets players combine ten high-tier red skins (Covert rarity) for a chance at gold-tier items like knives and gloves. It’s the same trade-up contract system that’s existed for years, just expanded to include the most valuable items in the game.
Legendary CS pro Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer experienced the market shift in real time on stream. He pulled up his inventory valuation tool to check the damage.
His inventory had been worth around $58,000 just a week earlier. The stream showed it was not worth $18, 315.39. His visible reaction captured what thousands of CS skin collectors were feeling.
Olofmeister is a two-time Major champion and HLTV’s 2015 player of the year. He’s spent over a decade in the scene accumulating items through trades, gifts, and previous-era pricing when knives were functionally limited in supply.
The price movements hit different categories in different ways. Common knives and gloves saw the steepest drops. Some popular red skins jumped 5–10x in value overnight as players rushed to buy trade-up materials.
High-end rare pattern knives like blue gem Case Hardened variants likely won’t crash as hard. Collector items operate on different economics than standard drops.
The market hasn’t settled yet
Steam’s mandatory 7-day trade hold on most items means the true price equilibrium hasn’t arrived. As those locks expire, more waves of repricing will hit.
Third-party valuation tools showed immediate drops but these numbers lag behind real trading activity. Actual sale prices remained volatile in the first days after the update.
Valve hasn’t commented on the market reaction, but CS:GO has posted an update on Steam. The company has a history of pushing major economy changes without warning, but this one broke a fundamental rule that had existed since CS:GO launched skins in 2013.
The change pushes more activity onto Steam’s Community Market where Valve takes a percentage of each sale. Off-platform trades through third-party sites don’t generate revenue for Valve.
For average players, knives just became more accessible. For collectors sitting on large inventories, the update represented a significant value hit with zero advance notice.
