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TL;DR: We buy & sell CSGO/DOTA2 skins to get discounted Steam Wallet Balance
Our Data API Service (Currently only with Chinese documentation)
"Selling Knives" (挂刀) refers to the technique of buying in-game items from 3rd-party trading sites like NetEase BUFF, C5, IGXE, and UUYP, and then selling them on the Steam Market to obtain a discounted Steam Wallet balance by capitalizing on price differences.
As Steam imposes increasing restrictions on gift cards, "Selling Knives" has become a common method for Chinese players to acquire Steam balance due to its safety and efficiency. For players with accounts in regions such as Argentina or Turkey, where direct recharging can be inconvenient (often due to the lack of a real billing address), "Selling Knives" has become the primary means of obtaining balance.
Typically, the discount rate for "Selling Knives" falls within the range of 10% to 40%, with the specific value depending on market conditions, experience, and patience.
This project aims to provide an instant and convenient solution for exchanging Steam balance. Since its initial launch in early 2022 within the Keylol community, we have consistently offered transparent, real-time, and user-friendly exchange ratios, attracting significant attention and support from numerous players.
This project primarily consists of the following components:
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🎮 SteamTradingSiteTracker Website: The project's central website, providing real-time exchange ratios, market analysis, and other valuable information.
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💻 SteamTradingSiteTracker: A code repository offering the open-source backend code for the main website, enabling the development of new features and gathering feedback.
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💾 SteamTradingSiteTracker-Data: A regularly updated dataset containing in-game item prices, serving as a valuable resource for interested learners or developers engaged in data analysis.
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📱 SteamTradingSiteTracker-APP: A WeChat application developed by @lazycce, designed to facilitate easy access to the main site's data on the WeChat platform.
Together, these modules offer a comprehensive solution for accessing and analyzing exchange ratios and related information.
For detailed guidance on "Selling Knives", you can refer to other Chinese websites (e.g., Keylol, Bilibili). Below are two common usage scenarios:
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(Quick Balance Conversion): Open the project's website — Set target trading sites and price range — Sort by Optimal-Buy Ratio or Stable-Buy Ratio — Choose suitable in-game items — Click to navigate to the trading site and Steam Market — Confirm that the current prices match those displayed on the project's website — Place an order on the trading site and await the seller's delivery — After receiving the item, sell it instantly on the Steam Market at the highest Want to Buy (WTB) price.
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(Optimizing Exchange Ratio): Open the project's website — Set target trading sites and price range — Sort by Optimal-Sell Ratio — Choose suitable in-game items — Click to navigate to the trading site and Steam Market — Confirm that the current prices match those displayed on the project's website — Place an order on the trading site and await the seller's delivery — Refer to the lowest Want to Sell (WTS) price on the Steam Market to determine the desired price — Wait for the item to sell on the Steam Market.
Personally, I prefer using the former method, where most of the time is spent waiting for the trading site seller to deliver. If the seller is prompt, the entire process can typically be completed within 10 minutes.
The term "Exchange Ratio" represents the amount of real money required to acquire 1 unit of Steam Wallet balance.
For instance, let's say you purchase a CSGO skin for $10 and sell it on the Steam Market for $15, resulting in a balance of $13.04 after considering a 15% transaction fee. In this scenario, you obtain $13.04 in Steam Wallet balance at the cost of $10 in real money, which equates to an Exchange Ratio of 10/13.04 = 0.767.
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For in-game items on BUFF with a recent transaction price greater than 8 CNY (typically purchased individually):
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Optimal-Sell Ratio: Buy at the trading site's lowest selling price and sell at the Steam Market's lowest WTS price.
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Optimal-Buy Ratio: Buy at the trading site's lowest selling price and sell at the Steam Market's highest WTB price.
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Stable-Buy Ratio: Buy at the average price of the lowest 3 prices from sellers on the trading site and sell at the third-highest WTB price on the Steam Market.
For in-game items on BUFF with a recent transaction price less than or equal to 8 CNY (typically purchased in bulk):
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Optimal-Sell Ratio: Buy at the average price of the lowest 10 prices and sell at the Steam Market's lowest WTS price.
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Optimal-Buy Ratio: Buy at the average price of the lowest 10 prices and sell at the Steam Market's highest WTB price.
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Stable-Buy Ratio: Buy at the average price of the lowest 10 prices and sell at the third-highest WTB price on the Steam Market.
Clicking on an item in the website table provides detailed price information about that item. It is advisable to verify that the platform selling price and Steam Market selling price match the details before placing an order.
To gain a better understanding of the profit potential of this technique, we have introduced the "Exchange Index" as a quantitative indicator reflecting its profitability within a specific time frame.
In general, the lower the Exchange Index, the higher the profitability of "Selling Knives" at that time. The "Market Analysis" section in the top-left corner of the site displays the performance of the Exchange Index over a particular time period. By clicking the "Show detailed analysis" button, you can access a comprehensive historical overview of the Exchange Index.
For a specific in-game item A, the minimum Stable-Buy ratio of A across all trading sites is considered A's effective purchase ratio.
For a specific in-game item A, the product of A's reference price on the BUFF platform and A's number of WTS orders on the BUFF platform defines A's market value.
For a parameter N, all in-game items in the current database are sorted in ascending order of their effective purchase ratios. The top K items are then selected in such a way that the sum of their market values constitutes exactly N% of the total market value of all items. This calculation results in the weighted average of the effective purchase ratios of these K items, with their market values as weights, known as the current N%-Exchange Index.
As N increases, the Exchange Index becomes a more accurate reflection of overall profitability within the current market environment. Conversely, as N decreases, the Exchange Index becomes more sensitive to low-ratio opportunities in the market.
The Exchange Index reported on the site's homepage corresponds to the 10%-Exchange Index.