Starting in trading

[Raval]

Hey, I'm kinda new in trading and could you please give me some advices how to understand the whole gimmig.  How to trade normal and how to rate hats and other stuff.

[Thiccies]

If you’re going into this to make a profit, it’s not worth it

[Snizzle]

Keep playing until you get weapon drops, then recycle them into scrap metal. Then combine into reclaimed metal and finally smelt into refined metal. Keep doing this until you reach 64 refined metal, and finally trade it all for a mann co. key.

Might take a while, but fastest free way without having to do any effort on your end. (Skip the silly trade servers).

Hope this helps.

[Rainy]

There’s no way to make any significant profit if you have less than 100 (maybe even more) keys in capital. If you want to trade for profit, you’ll have to start by spending some money. If you don’t care about profit, enjoy low tier unusuals and spells. 
 

I’m always happy to give more specific advice or help, feel free to ask me anything. 

[AwesomeSause]

Spend 30 bucks on steam community market on strange cosmetics from the most recent smissmas

 

Trade them all for ref

 

Buy hat

 

Also lowtiers are actually really decent if you know where to find them, spells are cool too but not as visible

[Bananas]

watch a few trading in tf2 tutorial videos to get a rough idea of how the process works

 

buy a few keys off a third party site like marketplace.tf, or the in game store if you’re paranoid 

 

start learning to use backpack.tf, it will save you a bunch of time vs just waiting on trade servers for things you want to buy/sell.

 

sell a key for refined to a bot, and learn how to use bots. you WILL be trading with bots, everyone does it, get used to it. always copy paste their trade command from the listing if you add them

 

take the refined metal you got from a bot, go to scrap.tf, purchase a bunch of craft weapons since ur probably brand new and don’t even have all the weapons, get anything you don’t have already. They also sell craft hats, you can temporarily deck your characters out for cheap with basic hats and miscs

 

once you get a basic feel for trading and own the essentials (all the basics not the scout item) you can decide if you actually want to put money in the game

 

more money = more profit, but more risk.

the people who make $1000s in a single trade already have 30-100k in inventory value and do this as a hustle. 
 

50-100 keys will get you in the door but don’t expect serious return unless you invest a load of free time into a venture like this. Easier said than done, and for some it’s more lucrative than others

 

good luck to you and anyone else that’s new and trying to start out

[Sir Spoon The Second]

you gotta spend some money, think of trading as a hobbies, hobbies cost money, if you don't have much just buy a key and a backpack extender, this rout I tell people to go is a ks rout but there are other ways to go but i think this is the fastest and easiest routs to go

1. sell key for metal

 

2.use metal to buy killstreak kits also known as basic or standard killstreak kits, apply them to a unique craftable weapon and quick sell it to a bot for 1-2.33 ref profit (example, basic bat kit is listed for 16 ref, bot will buy it for applied for 17 ref and there you have 1 ref profit)

 

3. do this until you got 3 keys worth of ref and convert your ref into a key and sell it on the stem community market and buy and sell basic ks kits and weapons/ spec killstreak kits or fabs or weapons to build up steam wallet funds make sure to always have ad least 1$ USD in your wallet or the rough equivalate in your currency 

 

4. continue to buying kits and applying them until you have 5 keys worth of metal now start buying spec fabs and turning them into kits for 1-5 ref profit or apply them to weapons and selling them to bots for 1-5 ref profit, you need to do the math on cost to make sure you will make profit (note you can place buy orders for kits under what the applied weapon is and people will still sell the kit to you and still make that profit maybe even more since you have a buyorder)

 

5. continue to buy kits or fabs and selling them in the ways motioned before and buy and sell stuff on the SCM and buy backpack extenders to expanded your bp to hold more stuff until you have a max sized bp

 

6. repeat both processes and occasionally build up a lot of fund then buy an item and sell it for pure or buy keys and do this until you have roughly 25-50 raw 

 

7. once you get to 25-50 raw keys you now have a few choices for the rest of your trading career

A. continue to do ks trading as well as spelled trading

B. start Unusual trading, unu hats or taunts or both

C. war paint trading

D. all of the above (note you will have to balance a lot and being a smaller trader it will be hard to balance everything but once you get a really good sized BP around 2000-4000 usd worth  bp it will be a lot easier to balance everything this community has to offer, its best to continue down one route with the occasion of going down others until you have that good sized BP)

 

this is 1 way to get into trading that i think is 1 of the easiest and simplest 

[DaVinchi]

the absolute best advice i can give you is to just buy 30 keys and start from there. trading from weapons to keys isnt worth it. it takes far too long and is EXTREMELY overrun with bots.

[RussellSproutz]

Get a part-time job like Mcdonald's and invest some money to fund your trading hobby. Get like 100 keys and start from there. If you spend a lot of money, trade in volume by buying backpacks. Best way to get some nice flips.

[NobodyNose]

The No-Nonsense Guide to Making Profit in 2024!

100% Guaranteed Method of Making Profit and Getting Great Hats!

Step 1:

Find out your country/state/town's minimum working age.

 

Step 2:

 

If you are legal working age, apply for a part-time job. This path is very effective if you live with your parents, as you don't have to worry about bills and other expenses cutting down on your profits.

If you are under working age, start mowing lawns, shoveling snow, lemonade stands, whatever goes! This method might be even better as there is no income tax and you don't have to apply to do anything!

Step 3:

Open up a PayPal or Zelle account (If you're in the US, Zelle is better). This is where you will keep all your profits from your job. Having these types of payments is very crucial in your trading journey. Once you have built up $800-$1000, which should take a maximum amount of time of 4 months, depending on what you did for Step 2, move on to Step 4.

Step 4:

Join or go to the Backpack.tf Discord, and watch #trade-discussions like a hawk. Anytime someone wants to sell their keys or is asking if anyone is buying, you should show up. Ask them for their rate per key. As of right now, if they want more than $1.65 a key it's not worth it. I suggest not advertising in the trade ads channel as people will want to make sure you're reputable, and if you start trading, I doubt you have much rep. Now that you have spent all your hard-earned money on key-shaped pixels or until you have 300 keys, it's time to go to step 5.

Step 5:
Learn how to trade. Watch videos on YouTube to learn about the do's and don'ts. As mentioned earlier, the Backpack.tf discord is great for learning about all these things. When you're new, try sticking to hats only, and since you're mega-rich with your keys, don't buy anything that is less than 100 keys. Also, learn about scammers and their tactics. Again, the BP.TF discord is great, and always ask there before doing any trades you are unsure of.

Step 6: Now that you have become a trading guru, you will be making thousands upon thousands of keys every month. As you gain more profits, you will start to see some changes in your behavior. Your ego gets inflated, you start blatantly sharking, and you can't resist the urge to buy from scammers. This is all normal, and don't be afraid! Because of backpacks shit rules and how they won't do anything to rich men like you, you'll be 100% fine. 

Now that you've read this guide, go get'em, tiger. Trading is 100% possible if you follow everything here, step by step. I would also like to note that any advice you get from this forum that doesn't follow the rough ideas of this guide, they are full of Bullshit, and will never work.

[RockSolidWood]

2 minutes ago, timtee said:

Step 6: Now that you have become a trading guru, you will be making thousands upon thousands of keys every month. As you gain more profits, you will start to see some changes in your behavior. Your ego gets inflated, you start blatantly sharking, and you can't resist the urge to buy from scammers. This is all normal, and don't be afraid! Because of backpacks shit rules and how they won't do anything to rich men like you, you'll be 100% fine. 

Now this must be true, its almost like every high tier trader follows this exact guide! wow, must be accurate.

[NobodyNose]

14 minutes ago, RockSolidWood said:

Now this must be true, its almost like every high tier trader follows this exact guide! wow, must be accurate.

What'd I tell ya, no-nonsense and 100% valid

[RouzenZaker]

1. Go to the mvm, play.
2. Get a golden frying pan
3. Go to the gambling site.
4. Play all
5. Throw 40 keys 
6. Buy a hat (a scary hat with a beautiful effect)
7. Play for fun
8. Go to the trade server
9. We see a trader with 3 effects on his head, we realize his inferiority 
10. We borrow from the bank and buy hats and misc in 3 prices 
11. Done, now you are a trader and can give advice on the forum 

[Raval]

LoL, thanks guys, I thought nobody will see this post but thanks for all the advices:3 

The one with McDonald's was funny