CSGO Trade Up Contracts Explained (CS2 Guide)

Short answer: a CS2 trade up contract (the same feature as in CS:GO) takes ten skins of one rarity and gives you one random skin of the next rarity up, picked from the collections of the skins you put in. Since October 2025, five Covert skins can also be traded for a knife or gloves. You start it from your CS2 inventory, and the ten inputs are gone for good once you sign.

What is a trade up contract?

The trade up contract is a crafting feature built into Counter-Strike 2 (and CS:GO before it). You put in ten weapon skins of the same rarity, the game destroys them, and you receive one skin of the next rarity up. The result is picked at random from the collections your inputs came from.

The ladder looks like this:

Contraband items can't be used at all. Covert weapon skins only work in the five-item knife and gloves contract, because there is no higher weapon tier.

The last row is new. The October 2025 CS2 update added Covert trade ups, where five Covert skins become a knife or pair of gloves from the matching cases. It changed the whole skin market overnight (see the CS2 skins market crash) and has its own guide: CS2 knife trade ups.

The rules

• Same rarity: all inputs must be the same tier.
• StatTrak must match: all StatTrak or none. StatTrak in gives StatTrak out.
• The next tier must exist: a collection with no skin one tier higher can't give you a result, so its skins can't be used for that step.
• Souvenirs: souvenir skins used to be blocked from contracts. Since the May 2026 update they can be used, also mixed with normal skins: the Souvenir status is removed and the result is a normal skin one tier higher.
• It can't be undone: once you sign, the inputs are gone.

How the odds are calculated

Valve has never published the exact formula, but calculators and most guides use this model: each input acts as a "ticket" for its own collection, so the chance of getting a particular skin is:

Example with real collections: you use 7 Mil-Spec skins from the Cobblestone Collection and 3 from the Mirage Collection. Cobblestone has 2 Restricted skins (CZ75-Auto | Chalice and Desert Eagle | Hand Cannon) and Mirage has 1 (MAG-7 | Bulldozer).

• CZ75-Auto | Chalice: 7/10 × 1/2 = 35%
• Desert Eagle | Hand Cannon: 7/10 × 1/2 = 35%
• MAG-7 | Bulldozer: 3/10 × 1/1 = 30%

The same Cobblestone inputs are used on the float page to show why the two Cobblestone outcomes come out in very different wears from the same inputs.

Filling the rest of a contract with "filler" skins from a collection that has only one possible outcome is the classic trick: you know exactly what the non-target results can be. Every filler input still takes 10% away from your target, so use as few as the price allows.

Pick the collection first

Because the result can only come from your inputs' collections, choosing a contract starts with choosing collections. Three things to check for each one:

• How many skins sit one tier up. One outcome means a sure thing; five outcomes means your target is a 1-in-5 shot even with all ten inputs from that collection.
• The float range of the outcome you want. Some skins can't be Factory New at all, others only exist in low floats, and the range decides how low your inputs need to be.
• StatTrak. Map and Armory collections have no StatTrak versions, so a StatTrak contract can't reach them.

Every map, operation-reward and Armory collection has its own page with all of its skins, float ranges and what each rarity trades up into, with the odds: see the CS2 collections list. Case collections are on the case pages.

What decides the wear (float) of the result?

The result's float comes from the average float of your inputs, adjusted to the output skin's own float range. Low-float inputs give a low-float result. The CS2 formula normalizes each input against its own range first. We break it down with worked examples in the trade up float guide.

This matters a lot for money. The same skin in Factory New can be worth several times its Field-Tested price, so a contract that lands just above a wear boundary can lose most of its value.

How to tell if a trade up is profitable

1. Add up the input cost: what you pay for all ten skins.
2. List every possible outcome with its probability and its likely wear.
3. Price each outcome at the wear it will actually come out at. Use the price you can realistically sell for, after fees.
4. Expected value (EV) = Σ (probability × sale price). If EV beats the input cost, the contract has positive expected value.
5. Check the downside: positive EV can still mean you lose money on most individual attempts, if one lucky outcome carries the average.

Doing this by hand for every contract is slow and prices move every hour, which is what a calculator is for.

How to do your first trade up in CS2

1. Plan the contract outside the game. Pick the collection and rarity, list every possible outcome and its float, and check the numbers in a calculator before you buy anything.
2. Get ten eligible inputs. Same rarity, all StatTrak or all normal, each from a collection that has a skin one tier higher. Skins received in a trade can't go into a contract until their 7-day trade protection ends.
3. Open the Trade Up Contract from your CS2 inventory and add your ten skins (five Coverts for a knife or gloves).
4. Check the list one last time. One wrong input changes both the odds and the float of the result.
5. Sign and submit the contract. The inputs are destroyed and the new skin goes to your inventory, where you can inspect its float.

New to collections? The collections list shows what every map, operation-reward and Armory collection trades up into, and the case pages do the same for case collections.

Common mistakes

• Using Steam Market prices for outcomes you'll sell elsewhere, or the reverse. Stick to one price source.
• Forgetting fees: selling on the Steam Community Market costs about 13% of the sale price in combined fees (15% on top of what the seller receives).
• Ignoring wear boundaries: a result at 0.0701 is Minimal Wear, not Factory New.
• Chasing EV on thin markets: a skin with few listings may not sell at the price your spreadsheet assumed.
• Trade protection: items you receive in a trade are trade protected for 7 days and can't be used in a contract during that time. Plan for the wait when you buy inputs from other players or trading sites.
• Adding a collection with many outcomes. One input from a collection with five next-tier skins adds five new possible results, each at 2%. Count every outcome a single odd input brings in.
• Trying to trade up Contraband skins. They can't go into a contract.

Frequently asked questions