magine you closed September holding one item from each corner of the market: a sticker, a knife, a rifle skin, a pair of gloves and a case. Thirty days later, every one of those categories is worth less. Not most of them. All five. On November 2, 2026, the total CS2 skin market was worth $5.23 billion. Thirty days earlier it was worth about $5.72 billion. That is roughly half a billion dollars gone in one month, and the record of $8.71 billion, set in March 2026, is now $3.48 billion away. This is our monthly recap. Last month's edition is The CS2 Market in September 2026: Where the Money Went.
How we measured
Every number in this article comes from CSMarketCap and was checked on November 2, 2026. We used two sources on the site: the total market cap, which adds up the value of all tracked CS2 items, and the five category indexes, which follow stickers, knives, rifles, gloves and cases separately.
"30 days" means the 30 days up to November 2, which covers almost exactly the month of October. Dollar amounts for the start of the period are calculated from the current value and the percentage change, so they are rounded.
The market in numbers
Period | Market cap change |
|---|---|
7 days | -2.5% |
30 days | -8.6% |
90 days | -19.6% |
From the $8.71B record | -39.9% |
Two things stand out.
First, the fall is not slowing down. The market lost 19.6% in 90 days, and 8.6% of that came in the last 30. In money, the 90-day loss is about $1.27 billion, and October alone accounts for more than a third of it.
Second, the last week was still red. A 2.5% drop in seven days means the market did not find a floor at the end of the month. It kept sliding into November.
For context: in The Biggest Trading Week in CS2 History Was Also the Crash we covered the week in October 2025 when the market fell from $8.63 billion to $4.81 billion in two days. Today's $5.23 billion is only about 9% above that bottom.
Who lost the most
CSMarketCap tracks five category indexes. Here is how each one moved in the last 30 days, from the most stable to the weakest.
Category | 30-day change |
|---|---|
Stickers | -2.92% |
Knives | -4.52% |
Rifles | -4.96% |
Gloves | -6.48% |
Cases | -10.72% |
The spread is wide. Cases lost 3.7 times as much as stickers. Gloves lost more than twice as much as stickers. Knives and rifles sat close together in the middle, both under 5%. The unexpected part: four of the five category indexes fell less than the market cap itself (-8.6%). Only cases fell harder. The October loss was not spread evenly across the market, and the case index took the biggest hit.
Why cases fell the hardest
The cases index is narrow: it follows only 44 items. In a small basket, a handful of big price drops moves the whole index. That makes cases the most volatile category to watch, in both directions. Cases also keep entering the market every week through drops. When demand cools, there is no shortage to hold prices up. In a falling month, that shows up first and hardest in the case index. None of this means every case got 10.72% cheaper. It means the basket as a whole did, and that a buyer who checks prices across marketplaces has more room than usual to find a lower offer.
Why stickers held up best
Stickers lost only 2.92%, the smallest drop of the five. Part of the reason is supply: tournament stickers stop being sold once their sale ends, so the number of copies stops growing. A category with a fixed supply tends to fall slower when buyers step back.
That does not make stickers safe. A smaller loss is still a loss. But of the five corners of the market in October, the sticker index was the most stable place to hold value.
The overall index
The CSMarketCap index started at 1,000 on March 26, 2026. On November 2 it stands at 694.1, which is 30.6% below the start. Breadth was weak too. Of all items we track, 68% are in the red over the last 30 days. Roughly two out of every three items lost value in October. When two thirds of the market falls at once, it is not one bad skin or one bad collection. It is the whole market moving down together.
What this means
There was no safe corner in October. Every category lost value, from cases to gloves.
Stickers lost the least. If you hold something through a falling market, the sticker index was the most stable one this month.
Cases are the weakest category. They fell 10.72%, more than the market cap and almost four times the sticker loss.
The fall is still going. The last seven days were red, so November started where October ended.
A falling market rewards comparing prices. When most items lose value, the gap between the cheapest offer and the average one is the part you control.
Check the price before you pay it
The same item can cost very different amounts on different marketplaces, and Steam is almost always the most expensive option. CSMarketCap shows live offers for every item on every marketplace we track, plus full price history and all five category indexes.
Follow the CS2 indexes live on CSMarketCap and compare prices before your next trade.
