When does your skin unlock,
and can the trade be reversed?
Since 2026 every held CS2 item unlocks exactly 168 hours after it lands in your inventory, to the minute, not at one daily reset. If it came in a trade with another player, that trade can be reversed for the same 7 days. A Steam Market purchase waits the same week and nobody can take it back. Tell the tool when yours arrived and it gives you both times.
When can it move, and can it be taken back?
Worked example: a skin you got in a trade that was accepted on Sep 26, 02:37 PM UTC. It unlocks on Oct 3, 02:37 PM UTC, and until that same minute the other side can reverse the trade and take it back.
The same skin bought on the Steam Market on Sep 26, 02:37 PM UTC also unlocks on Oct 3, 02:37 PM UTC, but nobody can reverse a Market purchase. You only wait.
Sign in and the tool lists your own copies with their real times. Sign in through Steam
The two rules
The wait. An item that arrives with a hold can't be traded, sold or listed until 168 hours have passed since it arrived. Each item runs its own clock, so a skin that landed at 23:10 unlocks at 23:10 a week later, not at a shared reset the next morning.
The reversal. An item you receive in a trade with another player is Trade Protected for 7 days, and in that window the trade can be reversed from Steam's trade history. When the window closes the trade is final. A purchase on the Steam Market carries the wait but no protection, so it can't be reversed.
| How it arrived | Wait before it moves | Can it be reversed? | What Steam shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| A trade with another player | 168 hours from the minute it arrived | Yes, for those 7 days | A yellow shield: Trade Protected, with the time it clears |
| Bought on the Steam Market | 168 hours from the minute it arrived | No | A dated line: Tradable After, with the time |
What changed in 2026
Until early 2026 every held item became tradable at the same fixed moment each day, so a skin bought in the afternoon and one bought just before midnight unlocked together, and thousands of items hit the market in one wave every morning. Valve changed that without a patch note: each item now unlocks at its own minute, exactly 7 × 24 hours after it arrived.
What that means for you: the time on the item is the time. You can plan a sale to the minute, and the daily wave of sellers that used to push prices down right after the reset is spread across the whole day.
What a reversal does
- It is all or nothing: every trade with protected items from the last 7 days is reversed together, not just the one someone regrets.
- Items go back to where they came from, and Market listings and pending offers that involve them are undone.
- The account that starts the reversal can't trade or use the Steam Market for 30 days. The other side only loses the items.
- The risk is a cash deal: someone sends you a skin, you pay, and inside 7 days they reverse it and keep both. Pay out after the window closes, or only deal with people you can hold to account.
The full rules, what protection blocks and what a week of waiting does to the price: CS2 trade protection, explained.
How PatinaAI reads your copies
Trade protected items sit in a separate part of your inventory that Steam's public inventory never shows, so most trackers can't see them at all. Our extension reads every part of your CS2 inventory from your own browser, read only, so each copy comes in with its lock and its protection. Where Steam prints the end time we use it. Where it doesn't, we say the end is unknown. The first time a sync saw a copy says nothing about when it arrived, so we never count from it. And we never guess where a held item came from: we only say whether it can be reversed.
Every locked or reversible copy on your desk carries the same line as this page. Sign in with Steam
Sources
- Steam Support, Trade Protected Items: the 7 day protection and reversal, in place for CS2 since July 2025.
- The per item 168 hour unlock: shipped by Valve without a patch note in the first half of 2026 and documented in June 2026, for example by All Things How (25 June 2026).
Rules on this page last checked against these sources on September 26, 2026.
Common questions
How long is the CS2 trade lock in 2026?
168 hours, which is 7 days, counted from the minute the item arrived in your inventory. Each item has its own clock; there is no shared daily reset any more.
Can a CS2 trade be reversed?
Yes, for 7 days. Items received in a trade with another player are Trade Protected for a week, and inside that week the trade can be reversed from Steam's trade history. After that it is final.
Can a Steam Market purchase be reversed?
No. A Market purchase waits the same 168 hours before you can move it, but it is not trade protected, so nobody can take it back.
Why does my skin unlock at a strange time now?
Because the unlock is now exactly 168 hours after the item arrived, to the minute. A skin that arrived at 03:12 unlocks at 03:12 a week later, in whatever time zone you read it.
What does reversing a trade cost?
The account that reverses can't trade or use the Steam Market for 30 days, and every protected trade it made in the last 7 days is reversed with it, not only the one it wanted undone.
How do I see when each of my items unlocks?
In Steam, hover the item: held items show the date and time, protected ones a yellow shield. On PatinaAI, sign in and every locked or reversible copy shows the time left and whether it can still be reversed.