CS2 Market Investments: Which Skins Rose and Fell in Price in February 2026 and Why?
It’s no secret that many people have chosen the CS2 market as an investment vehicle and are making serious money there. To understand what’s happening on the Steam marketplace, you need to track the situation and stay on top of things. Our extension’s analytics section can help you with that – you can monitor deal activity and observe daily price fluctuations for various items: https://sih.app/analytics. Today we’ll review the top 5 items that rose and fell in price the most over the past month (priced between $10 and $200, with at least 20 sales per week). We’ll also show, using real examples, what can cause such fluctuations and what to watch out for.
Top 5 Skins That Rose in Price
- Sticker | Fluxo (Holo) | Austin 2025 — ~$42, x8 price increase
- Sticker | nicx (Gold) | Budapest 2025 — ~$52, x7 price increase
- Sticker | Ultramarines — ~$15, x7 price increase
- Sticker | G2 Esports (Holo) | Shanghai 2024 — ~$54, x5 price increase
- Tec-9 | Phoenix Chalk (Factory New) — ~$24, x2.5 price increase
Stickers have always been one of the most important – yet simultaneously most difficult to analyze – items on the Steam market. Their prices are influenced by a huge number of factors, from basic aesthetics to a team’s tournament success or failure. Time and again, certain stickers end up being opened from capsules far less frequently than others, making them unexpectedly scarce. It’s no surprise that big players love to “boost” stickers, since such spikes can look at least somewhat organic.
Sticker | Fluxo (Holo) | Austin 2025
In our view, the boost on these stickers is unlikely to be artificial – and is, to some extent, even expected. This applies to other BLAST Austin Major 2025 stickers as well. The main factor here is the relatively short gap between the summer and winter Majors. The sale period was also quite brief, which is why many holographic stickers from this event are already quite pricey. On top of that, Fluxo was in a capsule shared with 16 teams, which significantly reduced their print run. And if you look at the historical demand for this organization’s past stickers, you’ll see that their logo has long been a fan favorite and is actively used in various sticker crafts.
It’s possible that this item’s price will see both rises and dips going forward – but the feeling is that every dip will be followed by an even bigger surge. So add this sticker to your Favorites in our extension and keep quick access to it so you can continue tracking its fate.
Sticker | G2 Esports (Holo) | Shanghai 2024
This case looks far more paradoxical, and such a sudden spike seems completely unjustified. Along with the Shanghai Major sticker, other G2 stickers also got pulled up – Stockholm, and even Paris. Sure, the Samurai are going through some rough patches, but they’re far from the kind of collapse that would justify this kind of market movement. Teams like Liquid – and especially Virtus.pro – would be far more fitting candidates for a sticker value boost. So we’re left scratching our heads and are largely expecting a strong correction. Go check your inventory — if you happen to have a couple of these stickers lying around, think about taking advantage of the moment and selling them.
Sticker | Ultramarines
You’d think – the sticker isn’t even a year old, and the capsule it drops from is available in the CS2 in-game store. So what could possibly be driving a price increase? The answer is almost embarrassingly simple: sticker crafts. The community recently discovered a whole bunch of creative ways to use this sticker, and everyone suddenly wanted to replicate those crafts. The latest one to go viral was a cat-themed sticker craft, which caused quite a solid boost. Fortunately, this sticker isn’t from some limited capsule – otherwise, putting that little cat on your weapon would have cost you a lot more than $15.
Tec-9 | Phoenix Chalk (Factory New)
Here we’re really talking not just about this skin but about other items in the Industrial and Mil-Spec grades as well. We’ll say upfront that this is just our theory – don’t rush out to buy up every weapon of those rarities. In our view, this ties back to the fall update to the knife crafting system, which triggered a chain reaction of items disappearing from the marketplace: Covert, Classified, Restricted and now, it seems, it’s Mil-Spec’s turn. We predicted this from the start, and it looks like the forecast is holding up:
Top 5 Skins That Fell in Price
- Desert Eagle | Heirloom (Well-Worn) — ~$15, x3 drop
- Sticker | AMKAL ESPORTS (Holo) | Copenhagen 2024 — ~$11, x2 drop
- MP9 | Hydra (Factory New) — ~$130, x2 drop
- AK-47 | Rat Rod (Factory New) — ~$137, x2 drop
- MP7 | Powercore (Factory New) — ~$26, x2 drop
When it comes to sudden price drops, they’re rarely as dramatic as price surges. In most cases, any drop follows a preceding sharp rise. Sometimes drops can be linked to the release of so-called “duplicates” — for example, if a new case were released containing the same knives as the Fever Case, Fever Case items would likely take a significant hit. So we don’t see much point in fixating on drops, but let’s break down a couple of the examples at hand.
Sticker | AMKAL ESPORTS (Holo) | Copenhagen 2024
At the end of last year, AMKAL ESPORTS announced their withdrawal from CS2, which immediately caused an incredible spike in their sticker prices. Over time, it’s becoming clear that even this kind of precedent – which practically guarantees that these stickers will never be reprinted – is unlikely to sustain demand for them in the distant future, especially at such an inflated price. The team never achieved meaningful results, somewhat stumbled into a Major, and the price is now naturally declining. That said, sales are still happening – over 500 units were sold in the past month alone.
AK-47 | Rat Rod (Factory New)
If you were playing CS:GO five years ago, you’ll know that when Operation Shattered Web launched, this AK-47 was in practically every other player’s inventory and cost just a couple of dollars. Of course, the case has long since left active drop rotation, everything from it has gone up in price, and $137 even seems reasonable. But why is it dropping? In our view, it all comes down to an overestimation of the demand for Factory New skins specifically. For example, the Well-Worn version trades around $16, and the Field-Tested around $6, so $300 for a Factory New version just a couple of weeks ago was already pushing it. As you can see, items in positions 3 and 5 this month are also in similar condition, and their prices are falling just as fast. It seems the Factory New hype is fading, and prices are being forced down accordingly.
Souvenir Charm | Austin 2025 Highlight | Strikes Back
Finally, let’s step outside the top 5 and talk about the most controversial price drop of recent months. Back in October 2026, this iconic moment immortalized in charm form was trading above $50 – and after nearly half a year, it has unexpectedly fallen by almost half. You’d think: souvenir packages are no longer available for purchase, charms are in a stop, and Counter-Strike is unlikely to ever deliver another moment as electric as the one Vitality’s captain gave us. So why is the price dropping? Maybe someone is pulling strings, trying to buy in cheap? Entirely possible. After all, for collectors, this item is far more interesting and meaningful than yet another G2 sticker – wouldn’t you agree?
Author: Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
