Float Value
A number from 0 to 1 baked into every skin copy at creation: it defines texture wear. The lower the float, the better the condition and usually the higher the price.
Learn more →Glossary
Every CS2 skins term in plain words — from float to liquidity.
Wear
Five skin conditions by float range: Factory New (to 0.07), Minimal Wear (to 0.15), Field-Tested (to 0.38), Well-Worn (to 0.45) and Battle-Scarred (to 1). Each skin has its own range — not every one can be Factory New.
Learn more →Pattern (Paint Seed)
A number from 0 to 1000 that sets where the texture lands on the weapon model. Irrelevant for most skins, but on some (Case Hardened, Fade) it separates an ordinary copy from a collector piece worth many times more.
Learn more →Paint Index
The internal finish number in game files. For Doppler it is the paint index, not the seed, that defines the phase or gem — Ruby, Sapphire, Black Pearl.
StatTrak™
A skin variant with a built-in kill counter. Drops in roughly 10% of case openings and trades at a notable premium over the regular version.
Souvenir
A skin variant with golden tournament stickers that dropped during Major broadcasts. A separate and rarer supply than regular skins.
Rarity
Item grades from Consumer to Covert, with knives and gloves above. Each next grade drops roughly 5 times less often than the previous one.
Collection
A set of skins united by their source: a case, an operation or tournament souvenir packages. Trade-up contracts work within the collections of the input skins.
Learn more →Case
A container with skins of its collection, opened with a paid key. Rarity odds are fixed and published by Valve — from blues to knives.
Learn more →Drop pool
The set of cases and collections that can drop after a match this week. Valve rotates it periodically — our drop pool page tracks the current lineup.
Learn more →Trade-Up Contract
10 skins of one rarity are exchanged for 1 random skin of the next rarity from the input collections. The output float is computed from the normalized input floats.
Learn more →Inspect in game
The "Inspect in game" link opens the item in CS2 and shows the exact float and pattern of that copy — the only 100% reliable way to learn them.
Blue Gem
The rarest Case Hardened patterns with an almost fully blue play side. Top seeds (like #661 on the AK-47) sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Learn more →Fire & Ice
A perfect Marble Fade of red and blue only, with no yellow. Max seeds on the Karambit are extremely rare and prized by collectors.
Learn more →Doppler phases
Doppler splits into phases 1–4 and the gems Ruby, Sapphire and Black Pearl, set by paint index. Gems trade at multiples of regular phases.
Learn more →Fade percentage
The share of pink-purple gradient on a Fade skin. The closer to 100%, the "fuller" the fade and the pricier the knife or pistol.
Learn more →Crimson Web
A pattern of webs on a dark-red background. Large centered webs on the play side are prized — the more webs, the higher the price.
Learn more →Steam Community Market
Valve's official market: money stays in the Steam wallet, fees are ~13%. Third-party markets allow cashouts, so their prices usually sit below Steam's.
Median price
The midpoint of actual sale prices over a period. Far harder to manipulate than the lowest listing and immune to outliers — it is what our charts are built on.
Liquidity
How fast an item sells at market price. Few listings and rare sales mean low liquidity: a quick sale will require a price cut.
Market cap
An estimate of the total value of CS2 skins in circulation. On the Invest page it is computed from listings on the biggest markets.
Learn more →Case ROI
Unboxing return: how much a case gives back on average versus the opening cost (case + key). It is below 100% for every case — opening loses money on average.
Learn more →Sales volume
The number of sales over a period, usually 30 days. High volume means a live market, trustworthy prices and easy resale.
Sticker Craft
A skin with stickers applied. Expensive crafts use rare stickers (Katowice 2014, Crown) on fitting positions; on resale stickers return only a fraction of their price.
Learn more →