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How to read a skin’s coordinates: float, wear and price

Every listing on this site is a point on a map: the float value sets its position from left to right, the price sets its height. Learn to read those two coordinates together and you will stop overpaying for letters in brackets — and start spotting the quiet bargains other buyers scroll past.

What the float value actually is

When a skin is unboxed, the game rolls a number between 0 and 1 and attaches it to that copy forever. That number is the float value. It never changes: a skin cannot wear down from use, and it cannot be repaired. The float you buy is the float you keep.

The lower the float, the cleaner the finish looks. A copy near 0 is glossy and sharp; a copy near 1 is scratched, faded and dusty. Between those extremes, Valve draws five zones and gives each a name.

The five wear zones

The grade in brackets is just a label for the zone the float landed in. Two copies with the same label can sit at opposite ends of their zone — and look noticeably different in game. That is why every card in our catalogue shows the exact float, not only the grade.

Where the price cliff is

Price does not climb the wear ladder at an even pace. On some skins the last one or two rungs cost several times more than the rest of the ladder combined. Here is a live example from our catalogue, late September 2026:

From Battle-Scarred to Field-Tested the price barely moves. Then the curve bends: Minimal Wear costs three times more, and Factory New costs almost forty times more than the cheapest copy. If you play with the skin rather than collect it, the Field-Tested copy at €12.38 buys you most of the look for a thirtieth of the price.

Where the curve is flat

Other skins keep their looks deep into the high floats, and the market knows it. The same ladder for a different pistol, same day, same catalogue:

Less than two euros separate Battle-Scarred from Minimal Wear. Paying a premium for a better grade here buys you almost nothing you can see. Notice something else in that table: on the day of writing, a Field-Tested copy was listed cheaper than a Well-Worn one. Ladders are built by sellers, not by rules, and they are not always tidy — which is exactly why the exact float matters more than the label.

The missing rungs

Some ladders are short by design. Every skin has a float cap set by its creator, and if that cap stops below a zone, the grade simply does not exist. AK-47 | Redline is never Factory New: its floats start at 0.10, so Minimal Wear is the best copy there will ever be. AWP | Asiimov goes further — its floats start at 0.18, so the best grade you can buy is Field-Tested.

This trips up buyers who treat Factory New as the default goal. For a capped skin, the top existing grade plays the same role: the Redline ladder in our catalogue today runs from €33.94 in Battle-Scarred to €236.70 in Minimal Wear, and that Minimal Wear copy is the grail version, not a compromise.

Same grade, different point

Inside one zone, position still matters. A Field-Tested copy at 0.16 sits a hair from Minimal Wear territory and usually looks close to it; a Field-Tested copy at 0.37 is one step from Well-Worn. Both carry the same label and often the same price tag. When two listings match on grade and price, the lower float is the better point on the map.

Reading the coordinates before you buy

• Check the exact float on the card, not just the grade in brackets.
• Find where the price cliff is for that skin — pay for the rung below it unless you collect.
• Look up the float cap: on capped skins the top existing grade is the grail.
• Between equal listings, take the lower float — it costs nothing extra.

Prices in this guide are live snapshots from our own catalogue, taken in late September 2026. The market moves daily, so treat the exact numbers as coordinates on that day’s map — the shape of the curves is what stays.