★ M9 Bayonet | Stained

This is a mid bracket covert that sits between budget blades and rare grails, with a practical buyer base rather than speculative heat. The high floor keeps worn copies liquid for sellers who need out, while recent softness has pulled aggressive bidders back; treat listings as workmanlike, not premium theatre.

The payout curve is a full range ladder that bends toward the clean end with a noticeable steepening as wear improves; the best skins extract most of the upside. Because Factory New carries no extra premium under current market rules, the ladder reads as a single continuous slope rather than a split market with a gated top tier.

Lower wears cluster tightly thanks to a compressed lower-tier spread, so a well-worn copy sits close to the worn median in payout. That makes it easy to flip older floats quickly without fretting over tiny float differences; accept a narrow premium for convenience and move on.

Buyers and sellers still negotiate a visible gap, and the net you see in hand will trail the sticker price because of listing fees and the market spread. List aggressively if you need speed, and hold listings a touch higher when you can wait; the sticker rarely equals cashout, so plan for it.

Patina shows wear in the face and along the edge, and buyers notice a cleaner patina immediately. Demand climbs sharply for cleaner faces, so float sensitivity is real but concentrated at the nicer end rather than across the whole ladder.

There is no pattern index play here to upend prices; the finish and patina mean float tells the story. Sellers can price confidently by float alone without chasing rare seed skews.

Being a covert stabilizes the bottom of the ladder even when trend pressure is heavy, so worn copies retain a dependable floor. That rarity support makes quick sales feasible for anyone trimming inventory.

Gray patina reads clean and utilitarian in game, a muted blade that pairs with many loadouts rather than shouting for attention. Valve's finish treatment keeps the metal tones readable at distance, which helps steady buyer interest across players who want a reliable sidegrade.

This bayonet drops from the CS:GO Weapon Case, and that origin keeps supply steady and predictable in secondary markets. No exotic source means churn is regular, which is why range and liquidity behave like a mainstream item.

The historical band for this knife is massive, so you can find past listings well above and well below current activity. Right now it sits inside that broad band but toward the pressured side, reflecting the recent downtrend rather than a tight, stable trade range.

Push listings into the middle of the live spread and resist immediate undercuts when buyers are thin; patience usually recoups a chunk of the spread on cleaner copies. Use short, staged relists to chase fills without collapsing the market price.

Players treat this Stained patina as a dependable upgrade rather than a collector chase, and that mainstream sentiment keeps demand steady even when speculative buyers retreat. Community attention is functional, not feverish, which favors methodical sellers over quick flippers.