Posts

The Crate Depression Part 2

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The outcome of the Crate Depression The only effects directly affected by the Crate Depression were Generation 1 and Generation 3 unusual effects, with Gen 3 being especially impacted. If you watch my streams on Twitch, you’d notice that Disco Beat Down and Miami Nights are amongst my favourite effects. Unfortunately, there were so many Gen 3 hats unboxed, that the effects have lost some of their uniqueness. It’s basic economics, Supply and Demand. The Supply for Gen 1 and Gen 3 hats increased drastically, while demand has fallen as a result. Personally, the Crate Depression didn’t affect my backpack value too much. The only notable items that were affected were my Disco Beat Down Tough Muffs (bought for 63 keys in March, priced at roughly 35 keys today) as well as my Green Energy Powdered Practitioner (worth 64 keys when I purchased it, priced roughly at 45 keys today). Many prominent traders in the community had cashed out due to the instability of the market at the

The Crate Depression

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I would like to a break from covering the basics of trading by giving a little bit of my personal insights on how the Crate Depression affected the TF2 economy. What happened? The date is the 25 th of July. TF2 players are rejoicing, as the game received a minor update, adding the Summer 2019 Cosmetic Case to the game. TF2 has not received any major updates in over 2 years, as such any kind of update, big or small is always appreciated. This minor update would probably have been forgotten if it hadn’t been for the chaos it had created. Indeed, a couple hours after the update, some TF2 users noticed that the drop rate of unusuals from certain crates was broken. Affected crates included crates #1 to #16 as well as #82, #83 and #85. Players would be guaranteed to unbox an unusual, and this has had irreversible effects on the economy as a result. Caught in a full panic, many people in the community resorted to selling their unusuals on the community market for abn

Backpack.tf, the God of trading websites

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TF2 Trading Websites, a guide to Backpack.tf There are many websites out there traders can use in order to maximize their chances to snatch some juicy deals. Today, we will be looking at the holy grail of trading websites known as Backpack.tf! Backpack.tf Now that we understand how TF2’s currency system works, it’s time to look at Backpack.tf. I have been using it since 2015 and have found most of my profit opportunities on this website. Created as a side project in 2012, it has since become the biggest website relating to TF2 trading. TF2 item prices are basically dictated by the Backpack.tf community. Users can create and vote on Price Suggestions and if there is sufficient proof, these price suggestions will be accepted into the economy. If you type backpack.tf on your browser, this is the page that will show up. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the shiny buttons, we are just going to look at the basics. The first thing you probably noticed, is thi

Let's start with the basics

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New to trading ? Multiple times on both Steam and my Twitch channel, people have asked me the same question: “how do I make profit in TF2?” Before even asking this question, new traders need to understand the tools and the basic concepts of the TF2 virtual economy. In this post, we will take a look at these concepts, as well as an introduction to the holy grail of trading websites known as Backpack.tf The concepts: Just like any economy, TF2 has its own currency. The Mann Co. Supply Crate Key is the Dollar of TF2 and has been one of the most stable items in the game in terms of monetary value. People can purchase keys off the official Mann Co. Store at a price of 2.5$/key, but do not do this as there are many better places you can purchase keys for cheaper like the Steam Community Market (2.3$/key) or even third-party websites such as Marketplace.tf (1.8$/key) Along with keys, comes Metal. There are 3 kinds of metal types in TF2: Scrap, Reclaimed and Refi

Welcome!

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 INTRODUCTION Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to Pope Abibe's  first TF2 trading blog! The purpose of  The TF2 Trade Train  is to share the knowledge I have gathered from my experience as a respectable trader in the community since 2015. Despite being released as far back as 2007, TF2's virtual economy still remains afloat to this day. With some of the richest inventories valued as high as 50 000 dollars, it comes to no surprise that new people are still trying to get into the market, and make a bit of profit for themselves. As we know, just like in real life, the TF2 trading market is constantly changing as time goes. How was the market shaped previously? How has the market evolved since? How will the market change in the future? All these questions, and many more will be answered in this series of informative posts. Please understand, the content of this blog is almost entirely drawn from my own experience, and thus should be taken with a gra