How many reds (Coverts) do you need for a knife trade up?
Short answer: 5 reds. Since the CS2 update of October 22, 2025, exactly five Covert (red) skins – all normal or all StatTrak™ – trade up into one knife or pair of gloves from the case of one of the inputs. Ten skins are only used for the tiers below Covert.
| Goal | Reds | Pinks | Purples | Blues |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 knife or gloves | 5 | 50 | 500 | 5,000 |
| 1 red (Covert) | – | 10 | 100 | 1,000 |
| 1 pink (Classified) | – | – | 10 | 100 |
Blue = Mil-Spec, purple = Restricted, pink = Classified, red = Covert. Every step below Covert takes 10 skins of one rarity.
How the chain works from blues
Players often ask “how many blues for a knife”. The full ladder with 10 skins per step is: 10 blue (Mil-Spec) → 1 purple (Restricted); 10 purple → 1 pink (Classified); 10 pink → 1 red (Covert); 5 red → knife. So one knife costs, in theory, 10 × 10 × 10 × 5 = 5,000 blues – which is why nobody does it that way. In practice you buy the 5 cheapest reds of the case whose knife pool you want.
What the odds are
Every item in the case’s pool has the same chance: 1 ÷ pool size. Pools range from 13 items (7.7% each – for example the Kilowatt, Gallery and Falchion cases) to 65 items (1.5% each – the oldest cases such as the CS:GO Weapon Case and Operation Phoenix). See every pool on the case knives pages.
What it costs today
Most 5-red contracts lose money on average: the knife you get is usually worth less than the five reds you put in. The cheapest knife trade up page ranks all 43 cases with live prices.
Open the knife trade up calculator
Related questions
Can you use 10 reds for a knife?
No – the knife contract takes exactly 5. Ten Coverts is not a valid contract.
Do the 5 reds have to be from the same case?
No, but each input adds a 20% share for its own case’s pool, so mixing cases mixes the pools.
Do reds from map collections work?
No. Only Covert skins from weapon case collections have a knife pool.
How many pinks do you need for a red?
10 pinks (Classified) of one collection give one red (Covert). For a knife that is 50 pinks: 10 for each of the 5 reds.
How many blues do you need for a knife?
5,000 blues (Mil-Spec) in theory: 10 blues → 1 purple, 10 purples → 1 pink, 10 pinks → 1 red, 5 reds → knife. In practice it is far cheaper to buy the 5 reds.