What is a Steam trade URL?
A Steam trade URL is a personal link that lets people send you a trade offer. Normally only your Steam friends can send you offers. With your trade URL, anyone can, including a marketplace's trade bot.
Valve's Steam Trade Offers FAQ says you can send offers "to any of your friends" or to "anyone who has given you their Unique Trade URL". That is why every CS2 marketplace, trade site and many trading friends ask for it. It is how they send you an offer without adding you as a friend.
The short trade URL entry in our glossary covers the basics. This guide shows where to find the link on each device and what is safe to share.
How do you find your trade URL in the Steam desktop app?
The Steam app on Windows, Mac or Linux has the link a few clicks deep.
- Open Steam and sign in.
- Hover over your name at the top and click Inventory.
- Click Trade Offers.
- Click Who can send me Trade Offers?
- Scroll down to the Third-Party Sites section. Your trade URL is in the box there.
- Select the whole link and copy it.
Valve's FAQ says the Unique Trade URL is "on the bottom of your Who can send me Trade Offers? settings page". Game Rant's guide gives the same steps and names the Third-Party Sites section.
How do you find your trade URL in a web browser?
The quickest way is the direct link that Valve's own FAQ uses.
- Open your browser and go to steamcommunity.com/my/tradeoffers/privacy. Type it yourself rather than clicking a link someone sent you.
- If you are not signed in, Steam asks you to sign in. Check that the address bar shows steamcommunity.com before you type your password.
- Once signed in, you land on the "Who can send me Trade Offers?" page.
- Scroll to Third-Party Sites and copy the URL.
The "/my/" part of the address is a shortcut that Steam fills in with your own account after you sign in. So the same address works for everyone.
Typing the address yourself matters. Fake Steam login pages often arrive as links in chat. Our guide to fake Steam login pages shows how to tell them apart.
How do you find your trade URL in the Steam Mobile App?
The phone app hides it one level deeper. Game Rant's steps for the Steam Mobile App are:
- Open the Steam Mobile App and tap your profile icon at the top right.
- Tap Inventory.
- Go to Trade Offers, then New Trade Offer.
- Tap the navigation button on the right side of the screen.
- Choose Who can send me Trade Offers?
- Your URL is under Third-Party Sites. Press and hold to copy it.
If the app layout has changed on your phone, use the browser method instead. The web address works in any mobile browser too.
What does a Steam trade URL look like?
A trade URL has the same shape for every account. Here is a made-up example:
https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffer/new/?partner=123456789&token=AbCd1234
It has three parts.
| Part | Example | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Base address | steamcommunity.com/tradeoffer/new/ | The Steam page for making a new trade offer. It should always be on steamcommunity.com. |
| partner | 123456789 | A number that points to your Steam account. Steam account IDs are numbers, as the Valve Developer Community SteamID page explains, and this is how the link knows who the offer is for. |
| token | AbCd1234 | A short code tied to your current link. When you create a new URL, the code changes and the old link stops working. |
If a site asks for your trade URL and you paste something that does not start with https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffer/new/, you copied the wrong thing. A profile link or an inventory link will not work.
Is it safe to share your Steam trade URL?
For normal trading, yes. The trade URL only opens the door to trade offers. Every offer still needs you to accept it, and Valve says trade offers must be confirmed and "there is no longer a way to opt out" of that step (Steam Trade Offers FAQ).
| With your trade URL, someone can | With your trade URL, nobody can |
|---|---|
| Send you a trade offer | Sign in to your Steam account |
| Find your Steam profile | Take items out of your inventory |
| See your items, if your inventory is public | Accept or confirm a trade for you |
| Send you lots of spam offers | See your password, email or Steam Guard codes |
| Cancel or change your trade offers |
There is one small privacy cost. Because the link points to your account, anyone who has it can find your profile. Valve's Steam Trading FAQ says your inventory can be public, friends only or private. If your inventory is valuable, think twice before posting your trade URL in big public chats where scammers can see what you own.
How is a trade URL different from a Steam API key?
This is the part that matters most. The trade URL is safe to share. Your Steam Web API key is not.
A Steam Web API key is a developer tool. Valve's trade redirection page says the API can "execute changes to the account hosting a specific API key", and that "an account's API key ... should never be shared." With it, a script can watch your trade offers and cancel them.
That is how the trade redirection scam, often called the API key scam, works. You send an offer to a real marketplace bot. A script using a key on your account cancels it and sends a copy to a lookalike account. If you confirm on your phone without reading, your items go to the scammer. Our full guide to Steam API key scams walks through it, and the API key scam entry has the short version.
Here is the simple rule:
- Trade URL: fine to paste into a marketplace or give to a trading partner.
- API key, password, Steam Guard codes: never share, with anyone, for any reason.
Check the Steam Web API key page now and then. If you see a key you did not create, revoke it and secure your account. Our guide on how to secure your Steam account has the full checklist.
Why can't a site trade with you even with your trade URL?
Sometimes you paste the right link and trades still fail. Steam blocks trading for a set time in several cases. Valve's Trading and Market Restrictions page lists them. The common ones are:
| Reason | How long |
|---|---|
| Steam Guard not enabled, or enabled less than 15 days ago | Until Steam Guard has been on for 15 days |
| Signing in from a new device (without a mobile authenticator for 7+ days) | 7 days on that device |
| Password reset | 5 days (30 days if the account was inactive for over two months) |
| Mobile authenticator removed | 15 days |
| Limited user account | Until the account is no longer limited |
Other causes are simpler. Your trade URL may be old because you made a new one. Your inventory may be private, so a site cannot see what you want to sell. Or the item itself may be Trade Protected because you got it in a trade less than 7 days ago. The trade hold calculator shows when an item frees up.
When should you create a new trade URL?
Making a new URL cancels the old one, so any site or person holding the old link can no longer send you offers. Game Rant notes that creating a new URL "will make the previous one inactive". Do it when:
- You stop using a marketplace and want it to lose access.
- You get a flood of spam or scam offers.
- You posted your link somewhere public and regret it.
- You think someone you do not trust has it.
To do it, open the same "Who can send me Trade Offers?" page and click Create New URL. Then paste the new link into any site you still use.
What are the warning signs when someone asks for your trade URL?
Asking for a trade URL is normal. What comes next tells you whether you are dealing with a real site or a scam.
- They ask for your API key too. No marketplace needs it to trade with you. Stop there.
- They send you a link to "log in and verify" your trade URL. Check the address. Paste it into our scam link checker before you do anything.
- Someone on Discord or Steam chat says they are from Steam. Valve's trade redirection page says anyone contacting you about your items or account outside the Steam Support site does not represent Steam and should be blocked.
- The offer on your phone does not match. The Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator shows you each trade before you confirm it. Check the account name and the items every time.
- A site wants your trade URL just to "check your inventory value". You do not need to give anyone access for that. Our inventory value checker prices a pasted list of items and never asks for your trade URL, login or API key.
If something feels off, you can always walk away. A real marketplace will still be there tomorrow. For more red flags, read how to spot scam trading sites.