Covert is the top of the six weapon skin rarity tiers in CS2. Only knives, gloves and other Rare Special Items sit above it. The label is red, so traders call these skins "reds". The Counter-Strike wiki lists the full grade ladder and colours.
The odds that Valve's Chinese publisher Perfect World published in 2017 give Covert a 0.64% chance per case opening. That is about one in 156 cases. Most cases have two Covert skins, and they are usually the most wanted designs in that case, such as the AK-47 and AWP finishes people recognise on sight.
Why are some Covert skins worth so much?
Low supply meets high demand. Reds are rare to begin with, and the ones on popular weapons draw buyers who want to show them off in matches. Float value and pattern can push prices much higher, since a Factory New copy with a low float is rarer still. Skins from cases that have left the drop pool tend to rise because new copies stop entering the market.
Not every red is expensive. A Covert skin on a weapon with few users can sell for less than a popular pink. Always price the skin, not the colour.
Can you trade up Covert skins?
For most of CS2's history Covert was the end of the trade-up ladder. Since the 22 October 2025 update, five Covert skins can go into a trade-up contract. Valve's note says five regular Covert items return one regular knife or one regular gloves item from a collection of one of the inputs, and five StatTrak Covert items return one StatTrak knife. StatTrak inputs never give gloves, and normal and StatTrak inputs cannot be mixed. You cannot pick the knife model or finish, so the expected value can swing wildly depending on which collections you feed in.