M9 Bayonet Fade Guide: Patterns, Fade Percentages & Prices

The M9 Bayonet Fade stays popular for a reason: it is one of the original CS knives, wrapped in a bright gradient that lands differently on almost every copy — so two knives with the same name can differ by thousands of dollars. Read this and you will know how to read Fade percentages, spot good patterns, price one correctly, and inspect it safely before you spend a cent.

What Is the M9 Bayonet Fade?

The M9 Bayonet is a fan-favorite knife type — a long, heavy blade with a signature pull-out animation and one of the most recognizable silhouettes in the game. It sits near the top of our best knife types (CS:GO) CS2 ranking for a reason. The Fade finish is one of the original knife finishes, released with the early knife cases in 2013.

Detail	Info
Knife	M9 Bayonet
Finish	Fade
Rarity	Covert (★ knife)
Wears	Factory New, Minimal Wear
Float range	0.00–0.08
StatTrak	Yes
Pattern seeds	0–999

The skin dropped with the Arms Deal update on August 14, 2013, and Valve reused the finish across eleven early cases — which is why supply exists at all, but why everyone still hunts the best seeds. The M9 itself traces back to real-world bayonets built to mount on rifles, and CS2’s version keeps that heavy military profile. It is also one of the oldest knife models in the game, which feeds the collector demand.

How the Fade Looks on an M9 Bayonet?

The gradient runs from purple and pink near the tip into yellow toward the base, with white or silver showing near the base on lower percentages. The M9’s blade is long, so some white often stays visible even on top patterns — that is normal for this knife, not a flaw. Under Source 2 lighting the anodized finish picks up soft reflections along the spine, which makes the color transitions look smoother in CS2 than they did in old CS:GO screenshots.

One thing first-person players should know: in-game you mostly see the blade from the spine side, where the gradient reads brightest. The inspect view shows the flat face, where the white at the base is more obvious. Judge both before paying. On a 100% copy the purple floods almost to the guard; on an 85% copy nearly a third of the blade shows bare silver-white — a gap you spot instantly in-game.

Pattern Seeds and Fade Percentage Explained

A pattern seed is a number assigned when the knife drops; it positions the Fade texture and never changes. The Fade percentage is a community score (roughly 80%–100%) measuring how much of the blade the colored gradient covers — higher usually means more purple at the tip and less white at the base.

Those numbers are not vibes: most marketplaces run the same open-source algorithm, the fade percentage calculator on GitHub, which converts each seed into a rotation value and maps it to a percentage. A few big sites use their own image analysis instead, which is why you sometimes see the same knife scored differently elsewhere.

And the rounding trap is real: some sites round 99.99% up to “100%” while others show exact decimals. Always check the exact percentage and the seed, never a rounded label — the difference between 99.76% and 100.0000% can be four figures. The seed travels with the item forever, so a five-second calculator check today protects the resale value years from now.

M9 Bayonet Fade Pattern Tiers

Here is how the tiers break down in this part of our M9 Bayonet Fade guide:

Tier	Fade %	What it looks like	Price premium
100% (Full Fade)	100.0000%	Maximum purple at the tip, gradient covers the guard ring	Highest — few sales, wide range
98–99% (Fake Full Fade)	98.00–99.99%	Nearly identical to Full Fade	Moderate premium
90–97%	90.00–97.99%	Purple present but slipping, white shows at the base	Small premium over base
80–89%	80.00–89.99%	Purple mostly gone, white covers a third of the blade	Base market price

A 100% copy is the show-off piece: the purple floods the tip and the gradient even wraps the guard ring. Fake Full Fades (98–99%) look identical in photos, which is exactly why sellers push them at Full Fade prices — and why m9 bayonet fade patterns need calculator verification, not eyeballs. The 90–97% band is the sweet spot for players: plenty of purple, modest premium. The 80–89% zone is where patience pays the least — most buyers skip these unless the price is genuinely low.

Verified examples from the calculator: seed #763 is the only 100.0000% on the M9, followed by #575 (99.9928%), #897 (99.9853%), and #636 (99.9805%). Below them, the m9 bayonet fade patterns spread wide: the 98–99% bracket includes seeds like #11, #34, #46, and #84, the 90–97% band covers hundreds of seeds such as #18, #57, and #63, and most of the 1,000 total seeds actually land in the 80–89% zone. Plentiful patterns are exactly why exact decimals matter more than tier names.

Does Float Matter on an M9 Bayonet Fade?

Barely. The skin only comes in Factory New and Minimal Wear (0.00–0.08), so every copy looks clean. Float and pattern are independent — a top seed can still carry a higher float. Very low floats (under 0.01) add a small extra premium for collectors, but the Fade percentage does the heavy lifting on price, not the float. Scratches, where they appear at all, show on the spine near the maximum float — another reason MW copies stay visually safe.

M9 Bayonet Fade Price

What drives the M9 Bayonet Fade price: Fade percentage first, then wear, float, StatTrak, and market supply. Verified base numbers today:

Version	Approx. price	Source and date
FN, 80%–89%	$763.00	csgoskins.gg listings, October 9, 2026
FN, 90%–97%	~$750.00–$850.00	measured sales hover near base
FN, 98%–99%	~$815.00–$900.00	measured sales ~+7% over base
FN, top Fade (100%)	$2,500.00+	few sales, wide range
MW (any %)	$1,040.00	csgoskins.gg listings, October 9, 2026
StatTrak FN (any %)	$835.00	csgoskins.gg listings, October 9, 2026

The Steam Community Market listing works as a free baseline check before you pay anyone. Note that top Fade prices come from fewer sales, so ranges stay wide — and the whole M9 market dipped recently, so check today’s listings rather than any chart from last year. One more trap: asking prices run higher than closing prices on this knife. Listings sit at +10–30% over base, while measured CSFloat sales tell the truth — 95–99% copies close at about +7% over base, and 90–95% copies actually sell a couple of percent under it. Price against sales, not listings. And notice the MW line: at $1,040.00 against $763.00 FN, the thin 0.07–0.08 band outprices the common one again. For context: an M9 Fade sits well below the most expensive CS2 knives — premium, not stratospheric.

M9 Bayonet Fade vs. M9 Bayonet Marble Fade

The M9 Bayonet Marble Fade is a different skin from a different case family — it dropped on January 8, 2015 with the Chroma Case (also Chroma 2 and Chroma 3), wearing a red, blue, and yellow swirl instead of the Fade’s smooth gradient. Marble Fade patterns are judged by color combos, not Fade percentage, and the famous chase is “Fire & Ice” — red and blue only, no yellow on the playside.

On the best m9 bayonet marble fade seed question, the honest answer: dedicated pattern sources do not rank a true zero-yellow Fire & Ice for the M9 — unlike the Karambit or Bayonet, its long blade almost always shows some yellow, and the community’s named premium family on this knife is actually the Max Red Tip (Steam community guides put seeds #763 and #575 on top). “Fake Fire & Ice” copies with a small yellow patch near the base still trade above base. Rule of thumb from SteamAnalyst’s tier framework: true Max F&I premiums run 3–5x base, Near-Max about 2x, Fake F&I +15–30%, Tricolor at base value. Sellers love blurry screenshots — verify the playside in-game.

Pick by taste: smooth gradient fans take the Fade; color-combo hunters take the Marble Fade.

How to Get an M9 Bayonet Fade?

• Unbox it from one of the eleven early cases that carry the original knife finishes (the CS:GO Weapon Case series, eSports 2013–2014 cases, Operation Bravo, Phoenix, Vanguard, Winter Offensive, and the Revolver Case).
• Accept reality: knife odds are extremely low, so unboxing a specific Fade with a specific percentage is unrealistic — at current case prices, that chase runs into the thousands with no guarantee on the percentage you land.
• Buy on a marketplace instead — you choose the exact seed, percentage, and float, and you skip both the case lottery and the disappointment.

How to Inspect an M9 Bayonet Fade Before Buying?

Ten minutes of inspection beat any seller’s description. Buyer checklist:

1. Open the inspect link.
2. Note the pattern seed.
3. Check the exact Fade percentage — decimals, not a rounded label.
4. Check the float and wear.
5. Confirm StatTrak status.
6. Compare the asking price to recent sales of the same tier — closed sales, not current listings.
7. View it in-game or on an inspect server to see how much white shows in first person.
8. Distrust warm, dark screenshots — flattering lighting hides the white at the base.
9. Screenshot everything yourself before paying; if the copy arrives wrong, that record is your evidence.

When you find the right copy, buy (CS2) CS:GO skins on Skin.Place with seed and float info right on the listings.

Is an M9 Bayonet Fade Worth It?

Worth it if you want a classic, bright knife and you are happy paying for the exact look you like — a 90–97% copy gives you 95% of the show for close to base price, and nobody in a match will ever know the decimals. Not worth it if your budget is tight or if you cannot inspect before paying: plenty of great blades live in our cheapest CS2 knives guide for a fraction of the cost. The honest middle ground for most players is a verified 90–97% copy in Factory New.

Selling Your M9 Bayonet Fade

List everything a buyer checks: the seed, the exact Fade percentage (decimals), the float, StatTrak status, stickers if any, the inspect link, and clear screenshots in neutral lighting. Price against recent sales in the same tier — not the top-tier record — and expect thin interest at the top end, where one buyer can take weeks. Selling into strength matters too: Major seasons and big updates pull knife prices up for a few weeks at a time. When you are ready to move it, sell CS2 (CS:GO) skins on Skin.Place for real money with fast payout.

Conclusion

The M9 Bayonet Fade’s value comes from its exact Fade percentage, not just the name. Check the seed, read the decimals, compare similar copies, and pick the tier that fits your budget. Do that, and you will never pay a Full Fade price for a Fake Full Fade again. The knife has outlived every meta since 2013 — it will outlive the next one too. Bookmark this M9 Bayonet Fade guide for your next upgrade — the right copy at the right price beats the perfect copy at the wrong one.