CS:GO Trade Up Contracts Guide

The trade up contract is a feature in CSGO that allows players to exchange ten weapon skins of the same rarity to receive one weapon skin of the following rarity. However, just because a skin is from a higher rarity category doesn’t necessarily mean it will be worth more than the ten skins used to obtain it.

To initiate a trade up contract, the first step is to have ten weapon skins of the same rarity. For example, you have selected ten skins under the Mil-Spec (Blue) category. All of these skins will be placed into a trade up contract, and once signed, all of these skins will disappear and you will receive a singular skin from the Restricted (Purple) category.

Players can use ten Restricted skins for a Classified (Pink) skin, and ten Classified skins for a Covert (Red) skin. However, trading up Classified skins is as far as it goes, as you cannot place ten Covert skins for an Exceedingly Rare skin such as a knife.

To refresh your mind, here are all the rarity categories available in Counter-Strike.

• Consumer Grade (Gray)
• Industrial Grade (Light Blue)
• Mil-Spec (Blue)
• Restricted (Purple)
• Classified (Pink)
• Covert (Red)

We decided not to include the Exceedingly Rare (Gold) category since it is irrelevant in trade up contracts. The trade up contract system is completely free to use, as players do not need to spend money to unlock it. However, the skins to be placed in the contract will come from their own pockets.

Now that we’ve understood how CSGO trade up contracts work, let’s go through the process of completing one. Here is a detailed guide on how you can perform a trade up contract in CSGO.

• First, think about which rarity category you would like to use. For this example, we’ll use the Mil-Spec Grade.
• In your Counter-Strike client, go to your Inventory section where all your skins can be found.
• Now, hover over one of the Mil-Spec skins you want to put in the trade up contract.
• Right-click on the weapon skin and then click “Use With Trade Up Contract”.
• Now, the trade up contract menu should be brought in front of your screen. You will notice that there are nine more empty boxes, and a list of all your skins in the Mil-Spec category will be displayed.
• You can begin putting more weapon skins into the trade up contract until you have filled it with a total of ten skins.
• Before you continue, make sure to double-check the skins you have placed in the contract.
• When you’re ready to go, click on “Proceed” at the bottom of your screen to execute the trade up contract.
• You will immediately receive a new weapon skin one rarity above the skins you place in the contract. The ten skins you placed will disappear and can never be obtained again.

Once again, let us remind you that the trade up contract process is irreversible. All ten of your skins will be eaten up by Valve, and there will be no way to reclaim them, even if you contact Steam Support.

Make sure you do not place skins with valuable stickers or patterns, as several people have made careless mistakes that lost them thousands of dollars.

The process of performing a trade up contract isn’t too difficult to understand, but there are more hidden mechanics we think you must know about. Trade up contracts should only be done carefully, so ensure you are making an educated decision before hitting “Proceed”. Here are four things you must know about trade up contract mechanics.

Understanding How Collections Work

Every single weapon skin in the game will be categorized under a collection. These collections could be from weapon cases, maps, or other events.

When you are placing skins into the trade up contract, you will receive a weapon skin from the same collection of at least one skin in the contract. The skin collections you are putting into the contract have a direct influence on which skin will come out of it, as it will be a skin of higher rarity in one of the collections included.

So, you can place ten skins from ten different collections, and the outcome will be a weapon skin from one of the collections from the skins used. You can mix them up however you want, but the odds of getting a specific collection will increase if you put more skins on it.

To make this information more digestible, let’s use an example. In the trade up contract, you put the following:

• 4 skins from the Chroma Collection
• 3 skins from the Prisma Collection
• 4 skins from the Breakout Collection

The chances of pulling a skin from the Chroma Collection is 40%, the Prima Collection is 30%, and the Breakout Collection is 40%.

We have just talked about how collections work in trade up contracts, and it is one of the two determining factors of how trade up contract odds work. The second factor is how many skin outcomes you have included. Most collections have several weapon skins in the same rarity category, which will reduce the chances of you receiving your desired outcome.

First, let’s assume you have included ten skins from the same collection. The chances of you receiving an item from that collection is 100%. However, if there are multiple skins from the next rarity, then the odds of getting a specific skin from that rarity is divided equally.

Let’s use the AK-47 | Fire Serpent trade up as an example. The Fire Serpent comes from the Bravo Collection, and is a Covert skin. However, there is a second Covert skin in the Bravo Collection, which is the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi.

So, you can have ten Classified skins from the Bravo Collection and put them into a trade up contract. The chances of receiving a Covert skin from the Bravo Collection is 100%, but the chances of getting a Fire Serpent is only 50% because you have the same odds of getting a Golden Koi.

In Counter-Strike skins, there are float values, which is a numerical number in the range of 0.00 to 1.00, which will determine the condition of the skin, for example, Factory New or Minimal Wear.

When you perform a trade up contract, the singular skin you will receive will have its float value’s range determined by the average float of the ten skins included in the contract. So, if ten of your skins in the contract are in Factory New condition, you are very likely going to receive the resulting skin in Factory New condition as well.

Mixing in skins from various conditions is not a great idea, as there is a chance of wasting your skins with low float values.

YouTubers and skin collectors such as Sparkles have used this mechanic to craft some of the lowest-float premium skins in the game such as the AK-47 | Wild Lotus by collecting the lowest-float skins of the previous rarity. By including extremely low-float skins in his guaranteed trade up, he received an AK-47 | Wild Lotus with the highest float ranking in the world.

The answer is no. There are certain skin categories you cannot place into trade up contracts.

• Souvenir skins: You cannot place Souvenir skins into a trade up contract because Valve has no way of working out how the golden stickers will appear in the result. This is probably why you only see people trading up for a regular AWP | Dragon Lore instead of a Souvenir one.
• Covert skins: As mentioned above, Covert skins cannot be included in a trade up contract. This is because the following rarity is Exceedingly Rare, which is only for knives and gloves. So, the highest skin rarity you can place in contracts is Classified.
• Exceedingly Rare skins: With the same concept as Covert skins, players cannot put in Exceedingly Rare skins, which are knives and gloves, into a trade up contract since there is no rarity after that.

There are also special cases where some collections only have skins up to a certain rarity. Some collections only have skins up to Classified or Restricted rarities, so you can only use the skins before the highest one.

There is real money involved when performing trade up contracts, so it is important to approach one with a proper strategy in mind. Here are some of the most important tips and tricks to remember before initiating a trade up contract.

Analyzing Market Trends

The prices of weapon skins are changing every day. Like the regular stock market, you should analyze market trends and spot price changes. Avoid buying skins that are at their peak price, as your trade up contracts will become more expensive to perform. Seasonal events such as Counter-Strike Majors can heavily influence the prices of certain skins.

Taking Calculated Risk to Make a Profit

Make sure to balance out your skins in the contract to reduce risks. Or, you can perform a risky 10% trade up by only including one skin from your desired collection. Whatever the risk you would like to take, ensure you are coming into the trade up with informed decisions. Otherwise, it is never good to take a gamble without knowing your odds and payouts.

Take Float Values Into Account

We spent a section of this article discussing how float values can impact the outcome of the contract, so let’s not ignore it. Every skin collector loves having skins with low float values, as there are minimal scratches and tears on the weapon’s skin. Try performing trade up contracts using skins with low float values to receive a skin with a low float too.

The strategies discussed above are relatively difficult to pull off manually. Many Counter-Strike players experience the same issue, which is why some community members have come up with several tools to help players calculate trade up contracts easily.

Trade Up Contract Calculators

There are several trade up contract calculators accessible for free on the internet. These tools allow you to put in various Counter-Strike skins that you can search for, and will come up with all the probabilities and odds of what the outcome can be.

Additionally, these tools can also calculate the predicted float value if you provide proper information. These tools will help you make educated decisions and take calculated risks, which is the best way to approach a trade up contract.

Browser Extensions

Browser extensions aren’t specifically made for trade up contracts, but they can still be very useful when selecting skins to use in a contract. These extensions can provide pricing updates in real-time, and also give insights on the float value of selected skins.

As discussed numerous times earlier, float values play a crucial role in trade up contracts, so you want all the information you can get. These browser extensions are completely free to use, but will only work on certain browsers. The safest choice is to use Google Chrome.