Valve introduced the seven-day trade hold in CS:GO on March 29, 2018 to fight scammers: an item received in a trade could not be passed on to another player for a week. Stolen skins could no longer be flipped down a chain of accounts instantly, which made quick theft schemes far less profitable. In CS2 the old hold was replaced by Trade Protection (July 2025), but the period stayed the same: 7 days.
Before this update, players could trade CS:GO skins and other virtual items with each other without any restrictions. That also made life easy for third-party platforms acting as middlemen for trades between players. The seven-day limit meant that an item received in a trade could not be transferred to another player within a week.
What Has Changed Since the Introduction of the Trade Hold
The developers' official position was that trading restrictions significantly reduced the number of fraud cases. The skins market, however, reacted negatively. Prices on the official marketplace dropped noticeably. Many third-party platforms and giveaway sites were also hit hard, since they often relied on bots to receive items from sellers and deliver them to buyers. Some were even forced to close or suspend operations.
Right after the rule appeared, many players looked for a way around it. Some started using Dota 2 items as their main currency, since the restriction did not apply to them. That workaround did not last long either: from May 2020, a seven-day trade limit appeared in Dota 2 as well.
How the Market Works Now
Over time, the skins market returned to normal. After a period of decline, most popular skins not only recovered their previous prices but exceeded them, as the price charts show. Third-party sites also adapted to the restriction, and many of them added extra protection against scammers.
Trade Protection in CS2
In July 2025, Valve changed the mechanic. Any CS2 trade can now be reversed by the sender within 7 days through Steam trade history, and the items received are locked for that period: they cannot be traded again or listed on the Steam Community Market. Accounts without the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator still have the old 15-day hold. For the rules and practical details, see our guide on how to trade skins in CS2, and to keep your items safe, read how to protect your inventory from scammers.
There is no way to bypass the seven-day lock, but it is not a problem for buying and selling skins. The LIS-SKINS catalog shows how many days or hours are left until an item unlocks, and you can filter skins to see only those available right away, or set an acceptable lock period if you are willing to wait. Items without the Trade Protection lock cost a little more. You can also sell skins without waiting: we explain how in our guide to selling CS2 skins without the Trade Protection delay. And to avoid losing items in a trade, it helps to know what a Steam API scam is.
