Hey everyone, longinfopost
Wanted to share some recent observations on how the new Trade Protection update has shaken the CS2 skin market — and get your thoughts.
What's the update?
Valve rolled out the “Trade Protected Items” feature in mid-2025. After a trade, your item is locked for 7 days (no using, trading, or modifying), and you can reverse the trade within that window. If you do reverse, your account gets locked from trading for 30 days.
Market reaction — immediate crash
Market data shows a massive drop:
Estimates suggest the CS2 skin market lost over $600 million in just one week.
Other reports put the figure closer to $200 million, but either way it’s a huge hit.
Clearly, panic and liquidity issues hit the trading ecosystem hard.
What’s driving this?
Lower liquidity — with trade windows locked, fewer skins in circulation.
Panic selling — people rushed to offload before locking issues got worse.
Uncertainty — traders aren’t sure what’s safe to buy or hold right now.
Is this permanent?
Some say short-term pain may lead to long-term gain.
Trade locks might actually boost trust: skins feel safer when you can reverse bad trades.
Once the shock subsides, the market could rebound — especially for rare, desirable items still locked but now seen as more secure.
Personal insight
As a trader, I'm seeing low-volume items bottom out quickly, while “safe-ish” assets like discontinued case knives are holding better. But the market is volatile — you've gotta be nimble.
Open questions for the community:
Anyone here profited from the dip yet?
Are you avoiding buying new skins until trade-locks are lifted?
Which skin categories do you think will be most resilient long-term?
Looking forward to hearing your take!
— *Pushaka*
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