Steam trade holds: every restriction, and how long each lasts
Steam has several different restrictions and they get confused with one another constantly — partly because people call all of them “the trade hold”. They have different causes, different lengths, and only some are avoidable. Every number below is quoted from Valve.
The two that catch people out are the authenticator ones. Removing a mobile authenticator costs 15 days of no trading and no Market. Transferring one costs 2 days. They reach the same place, and most guides tell you to do the expensive one.
If your items are already held, nothing shortens it. Steam Support cannot lift these and no service can.
- 2 days Transferring an authenticator to a new device.
- 15 days Removing one. Unable to trade or use the Market at all.
- 15 days Item hold on trades, when the account has no authenticator.
What is the difference between a hold and a restriction?#
They are not the same thing, and the difference decides what you can still do.
- A restriction stops you trading. You cannot create trades or Market listings at all until it ends.
- A hold delays delivery. The trade goes ahead, but the items sit with Steam for a period before they arrive — and either side can cancel during it. Valve's stated purpose is that holds give you a way to recover items before they are lost if somebody else gets into your account.
What causes each one?#
| Cause | What Steam does | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Removing a mobile authenticator | Cannot trade or use the Market | 15 days |
| Transferring one to a new device | Trade and Market restriction | 2 days |
| Adding an authenticator | Trades made in the first 7 days still carry a hold | up to 15 days |
| No authenticator on the account | Items held before delivery | up to 15 days |
| Resetting a forgotten password | Cannot trade or use the Market | 5 days |
| Account inactive over two months, then a password reset | Cannot trade or use the Market | 30 days |
| Cancelling a trade that was already accepted | Cannot trade | 7 days |
| Steam Guard enabled less than 15 days | Cannot trade or use the Market | until 15 days have passed |
Durations quoted from Valve's Trading and Market Restrictions, Trade and Market Holds and Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator pages. Where Valve does not state a number, this page does not invent one.
The 15 days people pay by accident#
Valve is unambiguous about what removing an authenticator costs: “Removing a Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator reduces your account security. To help protect your items, you will be unable to trade or use the Community Market for 15 days.”
And about the alternative: “After transferring the authenticator, a 2-day trade and market restriction will be placed on your account to protect your items.”
Both routes end with the authenticator on the device you wanted it on. One of them costs thirteen days more than the other, and it is the one most guides describe.
It gets worse than the 15 days alone, because the two stack. After the removal restriction ends and you add an authenticator again, Valve applies a further rule: “Trades created within the first 7 days of adding the authenticator will still have up to a 15 day trade hold.” So the fortnight of not trading is followed by a week of trades that do not deliver promptly.
Which of these can you avoid?#
- The removal restriction. Transfer instead of removing — this is what the transfer flow is for.
- The password-reset restriction. Changing a password you still know, from Steam's settings, costs nothing. Only a reset of a forgotten one triggers it.
- The no-authenticator hold. Not avoidable except by having an authenticator, which is the point of it.
- Any of them, once applied. Steam Support cannot lift these, and anybody offering to is selling something that does not exist.
No service can shorten a hold. These are applied by Steam and enforced server-side. An offer to remove one is a way of getting your password, your authenticator file, or your items — see how those approaches work.