Depending on the situation, some of the best CS:GO weapon skins will take longer than others to give you a neat profit share. In this guide, you will have an updated overview of the best CS:GO items for investing.
Holding, Flipping, or Trading CSGO Items for Profit – The Basics
The first step to start investing in CS:GO items is to learn the basic vocabulary. Similar to cryptocurrencies and other forms of digital investments, CS:GO items are pixeled assets that have no physical form or representation.
When you buy an item, you may have to hold it for a period until you can flip it, which means buying low and selling high. Trading is exchanging one item for another item with no real cash payments involved in the transaction.
Cheaper CS:GO items tend to be more volatile, as market movements can result in price spikes of 100%, 200%, or even more than that.
However, a price jump from 20 cents to 60 cents is not as profitable as a jump from $200 to $400, which means going straight for low-price items is not necessarily the way to go.
Another important aspect is how to invest. Even though you can use the Steam Community market, all items sold there suffer a 15% cut in price.
Alternatively, you can rely on third-party marketplaces and P2P CSGO trading platforms to save money on your investments. Timing your purchases will definitely play a fundamental role in the success or failure rate involved in your investment.
Taking too long to buy may result in the loss of profitable opportunities, but inadvertent purchases may get in stuck in market bubbles or non-profitable trades.
What Are the Best CSGO Items to Invest In?
If you are just getting started with CS:GO investments, you can opt for two different methods – investing in cases, stickers, and capsules, or directly investing in skins. Choosing right from the start is the core decision that will impact your long-term results.
For example, stickers and cases are theoretically better than skins due to their higher volatility. However, there is a bigger share of risk associated with these items in case the price does not increase.
Conversely, skins tend to have a more stable price than other items, despite the higher amount of capital required to start the investment and the characteristics of different skins that affect their price.
Souvenir Skins
The term “Souvenir” is applied to a limited number of skins that are exclusively obtained from souvenir packages. These packages are only dropped during pro-level tournaments, which means they cannot be obtained through standard cases.
The older the tournament, the more valuable the Souvenir items tend to be. This is not only applied to skins, as stickers from tournaments like the EMS One Katowice 2014 or DreamHack Winter 2014 are considered highly valuable assets.
Special cases from tournaments are also good investments. The uniqueness and scarcity of these items make them naturally valuable, as these tournaments will not take place again in history. Hence, the price of these items is bound to increase.
If you have sufficient capital to start with, a good option is to invest in tournament packages that are not readily available or are currently out of rotation. Of course, make your research prior to putting money on the line, and be sure you are confident that it’ll eventually return with “dividends.”
Rare Skins
All Souvenir skins are rare, but not necessarily all rare skins are Souvenirs. Different levels of rarity play an important role in the pricing of CS:GO items, which is even more evident when you start investing in skins.
Rare skins also require a higher amount of capital when you are just starting off. Depending on the skin you choose to invest in, you may not find a listing immediately, which will require you to engage in a constant lookout.
If you want a more pragmatic approach, you can research rare skins with a higher cost-benefit for flipping transactions or simply opt for not-so-expensive skins that will eventually appreciate according to your research.
Please note that not only because an item is limited it will automatically result in higher profits.
For example, collections like the Aztec Collection, the Office Collection, and the Alpha Collection clearly demonstrate that certain limited editions simply do not convince players to buy them.
While most items from these three collections have expensive prices, it does not mean these prices will appreciate due to the poor demand and lack of interest from players and other investors.
Investing in CSGO Items 2022 – Only Recommended Options
Investing in a Souvenir Dragon Lore AWP is not a non-profitable deal, but this type of operation is not budget-friendly for the great majority of our readers. Instead of simply selecting a bunch of expensive skins and listing them, we’ve listed promising skins and cases that are still budget-friendly for those just starting out.
Here’s our list of recommended CS:GO skins for new investors:
- M9 Bayonet Doppler
- Butterfly Knife Crimson Web
- Karambit Forest DDPAT
- Fade AWP
- Five-SeveN Fairy Tale
- M4A1-S Golden Coil
- M4A1-S Printstream
- M4A1-S Control Panel
You will certainly notice that some of these items are not hyped or ranked on trending topics. Why? Because this guide is focused on long-term investments as well. If you want quick profits, you will easily find buyers willing to get an M9 Bayonet Doppler or a Butterfly Knife Crimson Web.
Conversely, the last items on the list are skins that have been performing well on statistics in terms of stable growth and appreciation. If you also want to have some cases on your investment portfolio, here are our recommended bids:
- Operation Breakout Weapon Case
- Operation Vanguard Weapon Case
- Operation Hydra Case
- Revolver Case
- Spectrum 2 Case
This list considers the price valuation of each case itself and the potential items a user can drop by opening one of them. For example, despite being launched five years ago, a case from Operation Hydra is still valued at around $4.50.
In addition to a stable price trend, this case allows you to drop valuable items such as the M4A1-S Briefing, the FAMAS Macabre, the USP-S Blueprint, or the M4A4 Hellfire. Is not it a good investment? You can bet it surely is.
Best CSGO Items for Investing – Summary
As long as you are willing to take a good share of risk and take your time to constantly research the market, investing in CS:GO items can help you make a good load of profit.
In terms of cost-benefit, investing in skins will always be more effective than investing in cases. Use this short guide wisely and you will not lose money whatever direction you decide to go.
