Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Valve’s CS2 Update Lets Players Craft Knives, Wiping Up To $2 Billion From Skin Market

By opening a direct path to knives and gloves, the change reset perceived rarity across the economy.

Overview

  • Valve expanded Trade Up Contracts to convert five Covert skins into a knife or gloves, with five StatTrak Coverts yielding a StatTrak knife.
  • Market trackers reported a roughly 25–28% drop in total value—about $1.7–2 billion—within a day of the update, with further declines reported thereafter.
  • Existing knives and gloves fell sharply, with many popular models dropping 20% to more than 50%, while Covert-tier skins jumped around 30% as crafting inputs.
  • Knives and gloves produced via the new trade-ups are currently untradable on Steam, and existing trade locks and fees are slowing immediate liquidity shocks.
  • CSFloat estimates a worst-case scenario could roughly double knife and glove supply, though actual increases are expected to be far lower, as community backlash and analysis continue.