A CS2 trade reversal is the recovery tool built into Valve's trade protection system. If you lose control of your account, or you get tricked into a bad trade, you can reverse it yourself from the Trade History page on Steam without opening a support ticket. Steam's Trade Protected Items page says you can review your trades and begin reversing them directly from Trade History, and that a trade can no longer be reversed once its 7-day protection ends. Every item that left your account in a CS2 trade in the past 7 days comes back, and every item you received goes back to the person who sent it.
Reversal is all or nothing. You cannot pick one trade and leave the rest. Steam's wording is that all trades containing Trade Protected items from the last 7 days will be reversed, including fair trades you were happy with. Once you confirm, the account is restricted from trading and from using the Steam Community Market for 30 days, your Market listings are returned to you and your pending trade offers are cancelled. Only the account that starts the reversal gets the 30-day restriction.
How do I reverse a CS2 trade on Steam?
Make sure you control your account, then open your Trade History page on Steam. Steam lists the trades containing Trade Protected items and lets you begin the reversal there; Valve's launch post says the feature is on the Trade History page of your Steam account. Confirm, and Steam moves the items back. A received item cannot have been passed on to another account, because Trade Protected items cannot be transferred during the window.
If your account was hijacked, secure it first. Steam's security advice is to check your authorized devices, sign out everywhere, change your password, secure your email and scan for malware. Also revoke any Steam Web API key and check that your Mobile Authenticator is still on your own phone. Then do the reversal. Otherwise the thief may simply trade the items out again.
What does a trade reversal mean for buyers?
If you receive an item in a direct trade and pay the seller outside Steam, the seller can reverse that trade for 7 days and keep your money. That is why trading real money for skins with a stranger is now riskier than it used to be. Sites that run peer-to-peer trades changed how they handle items received in trade after Trade Protection launched in July 2025, and each site sets its own rule, so read its terms before you pay. The trade protection and reversals guide covers what to check before you pay anyone.