Bought a skin on the Steam Market, then found you cannot trade it or relist it for a week? That is the trade lock — Valve's 7-day hold that binds a CS2 item to the account that just received it. It is not a bug; it is deliberate friction, and every trader has to plan around it.
What triggers the lock and what it blocks
Whenever a CS2 item changes hands — bought on the Steam Community Market or received in a player-to-player trade — Valve applies a 7-day trade hold to the receiving account. The clock starts the moment the item lands in your inventory.
During the hold the item is only half-frozen: you can equip it, inspect it and use it in matches exactly like any other skin. What you cannot do is trade it away or list it on the Steam Market until the seven days are up.
Why Valve locks trades at all
The hold exists to slow down fraud and stolen-account laundering. When someone hijacks an account, the trade lock buys time: the thief cannot instantly flip the victim's inventory into cash before the owner recovers access and Steam Support reverses the damage.
How marketplaces handle it — and what it costs you
Third-party platforms route around the lock in different ways, which is exactly why delivery times vary and why an "instant" listing sometimes is not instant at all.
| Handling model | What you see | When it delivers |
|---|---|---|
| Instant listing, deferred delivery | Item goes up for sale immediately | After the 7-day hold expires |
| Unlocked-only | Locked items simply cannot be listed | Right away — only tradable items are shown |
| Steam Community Market | No listing until the hold clears | You wait out the full 7 days yourself |
For an active trader the lock is a genuine cost: your capital sits frozen for a week on every hop. Price the hold into each flip, and check a platform's handling of locked items before you buy — our marketplace comparison and cash-out guide show which venues deliver instantly and which make you wait.