Hey guys, my name is Transfer also know as /u/the_only_luke. After a long long time of gathering information I have finally decided it is time to release my new guide - a more in depth guide on how to trade in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Hopefully I will cover every possible aspect of the trading life, from entrepreneurial skills all the way on how not to get scammed. I will post my recommendations and simple ways in order to become a successful trader.

A little about me: My name is Luke and I have been trading for over 1 year. I have managed to turn over an enormous profit and continuing to do so . I'm 18 year of age and live in the UK. After a couple of weeks of playing CS:GO I quite liked it and bought my very first skin, an AK-47 Redline FT. I had no intention in trading it or making tons of profit (or even knew i could trade), I just wanted it to have a cooler ak.

My friend introduced me to a betting site called ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, that I found out (after a couple days) that you can trade on it. My first post was just a joke really, it was my ak redline for any m4 asiimov (BS/WW/FT). I then waited for over a week and eventually traded it for a m4 asiimov ww then traded the m4 for a gut safari mesh and traded all the way up to where I am now (feel free to check out my inv).

I have previously made a basic guide on how to trade but finally I have got around to writing an in depth one.

Some of you may know me for the team wallpapers I made on reddit:

• Minimalist Avatars[redd.it]
  
• Simplistic Black Wallpapers & Avatars[redd.it]
  
• Clean White Polygon Wallpapers[redd.it]
  
• Paint Splatter Wallpapers[redd.it]
  
• Location Wallpapers[redd.it]

If you have any questions then comment them below, I am not going to help you trade 1 to 1, this is what my guide is for. If you would like to speak to me personally feel free to add me on steam (be sure to comment on my profile or i will ignore).

Let us begin with a definition "An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit:"

Some people think of entrepreneurs as people who are willing to take risks that other people are not. Others define them as people who start and build successful businesses.

Taking the first of the two, the risk would be the money invested or the items that you have traded for. Taking the second of the two, success is measured by profit.

Regardless of how you define an "entrepreneur," one thing is certain: becoming a successful entrepreneur isn't easy... and hopefully this guide will help increase your chances of success.

I am able to identify the skills I believe are necessary in order to become successful. You may not need all these skills, however the more you have probably the easier it will be to turn over a profit.

• Resilience - The ability to weather the ups and downs of any business since it never goes exactly as expected. This skill enables a trader to keep going when the outlook is bleak.
  
  
• Learn - Successful traders realise they don’t know everything and the market is constantly changing. They stay up to date on new systems, technology, and industry trends.
  
  
• Risk - The ability to take risks, and make decisions when facts are uncertain.
  
  
• Initiative - The power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
  
  
• Management skills - The ability to manage time and people (both oneself and others) successfully.
  
  
• Recognizing Opportunities: Do you recognize opportunities Add to My Personal Learning Plan when they present themselves? Can you spot a trend Add to My Personal Learning Plan ? And are you able to create a plan to take advantage of the opportunities you identify?

Before entering the trading scene it would be a good idea to determine your goal. A goal is something that you hope to achieve by the end of trading. It could be a specific item or loadout, make money, or to just have fun and meet new people. No option is wrong, and no option is the best; it just comes down to you.

• {LINK REMOVED}♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ - Although known for it's toxic community, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is undeniably the most popular website used for trading and betting.
  
  
• csgo.exchange[csgo.exchange] - An overall easy to use website to gather information about: float values, previous owners, phase, fade percentage (coming soon), and other search functions.
  
  
• Steam Analyst[csgo.steamanalyst.com] - Loved by some, hated by other. Steam Analyst can be a great website for finding the average prices of items worth below the market cap ($400), a very useful feature for those new to trading. They have also recently added the ability to check float values of items.
  
  
• CSGOZone[www.csgozone.net] - Another alternative website to check float values, inventory value and also fade percentage (work in progress)
  
  
• CSGOStash[csgostash.com] - A useful website to view all the different skins.
  
  
• SteamREP[steamrep.com] - The most useful of websites, SteamREP allows people to check if someone is a Scammer, it can also be used to: find someones ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ url, view historical data or their banned friends.
  
  
• Reddit - Reached high tier items? This is the place to be. Home of the Big Traders, this is the place you will make big money.

First things first, we are going to need to determine an investment. An investment is an item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future. In an economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to create wealth. In finance, an investment is a monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or appreciate and be sold at a higher price. Obviously the more money you invest the easier it will to generate a reasonable profit.

If you are one of few people who were lucky to unbox something worth a lot then you can skip this step.

Once you have decided how much you want to invest you will have to decide what you will buy with the money. You can buy keys for $2.1 from people using paypal, or you can just decide to buy a skin/knife.

• Quicksell - Selling something lower than it's market price (cash or keys).
  
  
• B/O or Buyout -The asking price that you would instantly trade your item for.
  
  
• C/O or Current Offer -The best offer you have received for your item.
  
  
• Pure - Price in Keys
  
  
• SS - Screenshot
  
  
• PS - Playside
  
  
• BS -Backside
  
  
• FN - Factory New
  
  
• MW - Minimal Wear
  
  
• FT - Field-Tested
  
  
• WW - Well-Worn
  
  
• BS - Battle-Scarred
  
  
• Lowball - A very low offer.
  
  
• Highball - When a seller prices his item ridiculously high.
  
  
• Blue Gem - A Case Hardened knife with a lot of blue on it.
  
  
• CH - Case Hardened
  
  
• CW - Crimson Web
  
  
• TT - Tiger Tooth
  
  
• BTA - Better than average
  
  
• WTA - Worse than average

Buying - A good way to begin making profit it to buy items at quicksell prices. Quicksell means buying something for less than it's market value. Try to avoid paying the market price for any item unless it is a particular pattern on a knife. Don’t be impatient and keep your cool. If a seller won’t negotiate, shop around for other sellers of the same items. Usually people will quicksell items if your offering in pure keys. To determine the price of an item in keys simply divide it's market value by the price of keys in currency. For example, if an AWP Asiimov FT costs £29 and keys cost £1.7 then the market price of an AWP would be 17 Keys.

Selling - Try to sell your items around 1-5 keys more than you bought it for. Remember, if you attempt to sell for too much then you’re less likely to attract a buyer, especially if there’s a lot of the items you’re selling. If you struggle to sell an item reduce the selling price gradually down.

CS:GO Lounge is undeniably the most popular source for trading & betting.


First things first, we are going to have to log in. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ uses your steam login in order to gather your steamid, trade url, and current skins. To log in simply the "sign in through steam" button




To check that you are logging into the correct website & not a phishing link, just look up at the url and if it begins with HTTPS and/or contains a little padlock icon then you will be signing in securely through steam




Once logged in, we will need to connect our "Steam Trade URL". We can do this by going to the "My Profile" tab and pressing "Steam Trade URL".


We then need to copy & paste our Trade URL into the designated section and press "Add URL"



Now that we have logged in it's time to begin trading. First we will need to choose an item we want to trade and then find items we want. We can do this simply by searching for items worth a little more than the market price of the item we want to trade. In this tutorial I will be trading my USP-S Orion FN ST.

To quickly check the value of an item I would recommend Steam Inventory Helper[chrome.google.com]. It allows you to check the price of your item, or anyone else's directly from the inventory section.


Looking at the USP we can see it is worth £49.86 and I have used a Key worth £1.70 as a vector. A vector shows how much an item is worth in terms of another. By pressing the price, Steam Inventory Helper will link you to the item's steam market page. Here we can view the Sales Graph in order to determine whether or not our item is stable.


Taking a look at the graph we can see that our item has a steady price ranging between £45-£50. It is worth noting that stattrak items, and BS/WW items usually have an unstable price due to their demand being lower than their better wears.

We then have to find items that we would like to trade our USP for. We can do this by ordering the csgo market by the lowest price and finding the USP in the list. An easy way to change the page is to edit the url. Simply change the "1" in "p1" to a higher number.















Once we have found the USP we just need to simply pick items worth a slightly higher amount


Now that we have found the items we want, we can head back over to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. By pressing the "Add Trade" tab we can now select our item and use the search bar on the right to find the items we want.


As you can see I have added a description to my trade. I have stated my B/O. Different people have different ways to determine their B/O, I tend to look at the market price and take a key or two away.

In order to see the price of the items, I am using an add on called Lounge Destroyer[chrome.google.com]

Remember to bump your trades every 30 minutes or donate to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to unlock autobump (recommended)


Now we have posted our trade(s) we can search for the items we want an offer people our item.


Simply press the "Search" tab and select an item you are looking for, then press search and you will find people looking to trade their item. For a more specific search you can also add your item to find people looking to trade for your item.

There is a lot of miscommunication with the term "quickselling" and hopefully I will try to clear it up. Most people believe a quicksell is determined by how low an item is priced below market price, usually believed to be 85%. If i reduce the price of an item enough so that demand will rise, then I am quickselling. You don't need to make something 85% to be a quicksell, aslong as it is below the price that the usual consumer is usually willing to pay then it will sell very fast. A good example is the AWP Asiimov FT, a very popular weapon. The AWP costs £29 and keys cost £1.7 then the market price of an AWP would be 16.5 Keys, however the usual asking price is 16k since that is the price the consumers are willing to pay. If someone were to sell the AWP for any lower then it will more than likely sell instantly.

Search up Price Elasticity if you want some more details.

When trading don't get attached to an item, always make profit. Constantly check market for fluctuations in prices that you can take advantage of. Patience, patience & more patience don't worry about having the same item for almost a week, good things come to those who wait. What really makes or breaks a trader is how long he is willing to wait for a deal. Some items may take time to sell, and that’s the hard truth.

"Your reputation is vital for trading. Maybe not so much when you’re starting up but an absolute necessity when trading for higher value items. Don’t be afraid to ask for ‘+rep’ when you’ve completed a trade. Bear this in mind for the future if you’re starting out. Experienced traders will know this only too well. Be polite with fellow traders and stay on good terms regardless of the outcome of your trade. You never know if might meet the trader again and good friends are a major advantage when it comes to trading. Build up your reputation on your Steam Profile page comment section." taken from this tf2 guide

A scam is when a Steam user convinces another user to make a deal (trade, gift or market transaction) under false pretenses. Scams usually involve deception in order to convince a user that they are getting a good or fair deal when in fact they are not. For more information on scams read the Steam Scam FAQ

The most Common Scams are:

• Phishing Bots
  
• Paypal/Steam Wallet Scams
  
• Impersonation Scams
  
• Trade Offer Scams

Easiest Ways to Avoid Getting Scammed

• Ignore pressure and do not rush the trade. A common tactic by scammers is to force you to trade quickly so they can change items/gifts in the trade without you noticing.
  
• Ignore pressure to trust the other user. If you are trading with a user who insists that you trust them, they are probably attempting to scam you. Please note that +Rep comments can be generated easily by malicious groups.
  
• Mouse over every item to ensure that the item/gift properties are correct. Information about the item/gift will be stated here including the quality, name, description and any effects.
  
• Pay attention to the trade log while making the trade. All changes, additions, removals and actions will be recorded in this box. You may also use it to communicate with the trader.
  
• Do not trade items outside of the trade window. If another user requests that you do, they will likely scam you. Always insist to trade within the trade window in Steam. Wallet credit and money cannot be traded or added to the trade window.
  
• Ensure that you are trading with the correct user. Scammers may try to impersonate your friends and other trusted traders. It is your responsibility to know who you are trading with.

You can check if someone is a marked scammer on SteamREP[steamrep.com]


How to avoid Phishing Bots
When someone adds you you should check their profile is private, or if it CSGO. If the profile is private, level between 0 to 3, or if it doesn't have CSGO, ignore/block it.

Steam Inventory Helper has an awesome feature to ignore/block invites below a certain level




















PaypalSteam Wallet Scams

Bots offer "Steam Wallet" funds for your items via a trade offer. There is no possible way to transfer Steam Wallet Money between users and this is 100% a scam.












Secure your Steam Account.

"Ensure you have a strong complicated password securing your Steam Account and ensure it’s Steam Guard Enabled. Check your Steam Account Settings. An additional safeguard is to use an alternate email account from your day to day personal email. Create a new email account if necessary for use with your Steam Account and keep it private. Don’t use your real name or your gaming nickname for this account and again ensure you use a strong complicated password. Do not make this email address public especially within your Steam Profile or other gaming forums. In many cases hackers gain access to the email account associated with the Steam Account to change the account password so keeping your email account secret and secure is vitally important." taken from this tf2 guide

If you suspect there is a problem with your Steam account contact Steam Support immediately.

Determining the value of an item worth more than the market max ($400) can be tricky and time consuming. Here are common ways you can determine the value of your item:

• Get it Price Checked - A simple way to find an items price is to get it price checked. You can do this on Reddit. Price checking is not a very fast method but is good to gather information about an item from someone with previous knowledge
  
• 
  
• Primary Research - In order to find the price of an item you can search for what people are currently selling them for or have sold them for. You can use Reddit or {LINK REMOVED}♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
  
• 
  
• Ask a Friend - asking a friend who has more knowledge with trading can be a very fast way to gain the price of an item.

High Tier Knives tend to have special Patterns that can change the value drastically. A very useful guide would be this one created by /u/titaniumsack


Float Values

The Float Value is a number, mostly in decimals but sometimes in percentages. This number is from 0-1 / 0%-100%. This number tells you how good your weapon looks, if it has many scratches or not.


The closer to 0 the better.

A really useful website used by almost every single trader is csgoexchange[csgo.exchange]. If used correctly you will be able to determine the float and phase of an item. You are also able to see previous owners of an item and locate specific float skins.

In order to advertise your item, you will need to take screenshots. Screenshots enable a buyer to see what the item looks like ingame.

A growing fashion is the use of 4k Screenshots to show more detail in the images.

You can take 4k screenshots with an Nvidia GPU by following these steps

• STEP 1 - Open Nvidia Control Panel
  
• STEP 2 - Go to "Manage 3D Settings"
  
• STEP 3 - Turn DSR Factors to "4.00x (native resolution) & Apply[imgur.com]
  
• STEP 4 - Go to "Change Resolution"
  
• STEP 5 - Select 3840x2160 & Apply

You can take 4k screenshots with an AMD GPU by following these steps

• STEP 1 - Start CRU
  
• STEP 2 - Add a detailed resolution (note that the first detailed resolution will be your monitors standard resolution)
  
• STEP 3 - Set timing to Automatic - Best for LCD (if you have an LCD of course)
  
• STEP 4 - Enter your custom resolution and refresh rate
  
• STEP 5 - Press OK
  
• STEP 6 - Press OK again to apply your changes and exit CRU
  
• STEP 7 - Reboot

And simply copy-paste the images onto photoshop or any other photo editing software and mess around with the lighting, vibrance, blur etc.