Field-Tested, shortened to FT, sits in the middle of the wear ladder between Minimal Wear and Well-Worn. A skin is Field-Tested when its float falls between 0.15 and 0.38. That range is far wider than the tiers above it, so more skins land here than in any other tier, and Field-Tested prices are usually the lowest among the wears people actually want to use.
Visible wear is clear on most finishes at this tier. Edges look scuffed, paint fades on high-touch areas, and on some skins large patches of colour are worn back to bare metal.
Why does the float matter so much inside Field-Tested?
Because the range is so wide, a Field-Tested skin at 0.16 and one at 0.37 can look like different tiers. The low end is close to Minimal Wear and often sells at a premium; the high end is close to Well-Worn and sells for less. Traders check the exact float before buying, and price sites often split Field-Tested listings by float for that reason.
Some finishes wear well and stay attractive across the whole tier. Others show heavy fading fast, so a mid-range Field-Tested copy may already look tired. Inspect the skin in game or through a screenshot before you pay a premium for a low float.
How does Field-Tested fit into trade-ups?
Field-Tested inputs are cheap, so many trade-ups use them, but they tend to produce Field-Tested outputs. The output float is the average of the normalized input floats, mapped onto the output's float range. If the output skin has a float cap that ends below 1.0, a set of Field-Tested inputs can still push the result into Minimal Wear, which is the idea behind float capping.
For gloves and some knives, Field-Tested is often the most affordable tier that still looks acceptable, since Factory New copies of those items are scarce.