The October 22nd CS2 update introduced some massive changes to the competitive shooter that affected not only the gameplay but also turned the world of skin trading upside down. For the uninitiated, the controversial update brought retakes back to Counter-Strike with a few tweaks from its previous version and added a feature that would shake up the CS2 skin economy to its core: the ability to trade up to knives and gloves.
Prior to this update, knives and gloves in CS2 could exclusively be obtained via case unboxing, and that too with extremely low odds. Trade-up contracts had their own uses, but players could only trade up skins up to the Covert tier (red grade), which could no longer be traded up any further.
As a result, the knife and glove prices skyrocketed over the years, with any decent ones going for over $1,000, and sales crossing the million-dollar mark are also not unheard of. It was almost impossible for the average player to be able to purchase one of the more sought-after knives, like the Butterfly or Karambit, unless they somehow got incredibly lucky during unboxing cases.
Following the new CS2 update, players can now use trade-up contracts to get a guaranteed knife or a glove without having to rely on unboxings.
How to Use Trade-Up Contracts to Get Knives & Gloves in CS2
Players who own at least 5 Covert-tier weapons in their inventory can now exchange them for knives and gloves using the trade-up contract.
You can either use StatTrak™ or non-StatTrak™ weapons during the trade-up, but note that you cannot receive StatTrak™ gloves as a reward.
Here’s how you can use your Covert skins to get a knife or some new gloves in CS2:
- Launch CS2
- Go to your Inventory
- Right-click on any Covert skin and select ‘Use With Trade Up Contract’
- Select five Covert skins that you wish to use
- You’ll randomly get a knife or a glove skin from any of the collections used in the trade-up
And that’s it! You now finally have a knife skin to use in CS2 without needing to remortgage your house.
Unfortunately, since Valve has introduced this new feature, all the Covert skins in the Steam market have skyrocketed in value. If you didn’t already have a few Covert skins at your disposal, you might still need to spend a considerable amount of money to obtain the fodder for your knife trade-up. At the same time, this cost is only a fraction of what most knives used to go for on the market before this update.