Team Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with 'the absolute best hat you can get' going for around $40K

pcgamer.com:

A mere year after Team Fortress 2 players set a new record for a single hat trade, with an absurdly rare Crone's Dome going for approximately $18,000 worth of keys, those crazy cats are at it again. «Good start to 2025» says Team Fortress 2 player and hat aficionado Vytal.«Biggest trade in TF2 history.»

Vytal is the buyer, and tells PC Gamer that the trade in question was for a total of around 24,000 keys' worth of items plus an «undisclosed lump of cash.» TF2 keys currently go for $2.18 on Steam so hang on to your hats: That's $52,320 worth of keys. To be fair, however, we should probably price it to the value of keys on somewhere like marketplace.tf, which are typically around $1.80: So a mere $43,200. Plus cash.

The trade is a bundle that contains some truly exceptional items, and in particular a one-of-a-kind Crone's Dome: A witch's hat that is one of the most sought-after in the game. Vytal says most of the valuation comes down to this Crone's Dome being «the best hat in the game» and the effect here (Spellbound) being «thematically the most fitting for the Crone's Dome cosmetically and by namesake.» Spellbound itself is super-rare and arguably the most expensive effect in the game, unavailable since 2014 barring a brief reintroduction in 2017.

But wait, this hat has even more. «It has special augments called 'spells' tagged to it,» says Vytal, «these were only available in 2013 and 2014 and were removed from the game sometime in 2015.» The hat has two spells, Spectral Spectrum («adds a decent bit of value but not overly much») and Headless Horseshoes («this one adds quite a bit»). The latter is «generally considered the best spell in the game and on top of that, its color matches the Spellbound effect and the general witch theme.»

It also means the hat is constantly shifting hues, which is nice:

There is, believe it or not, even more to this hat. «Halloween Spells were discontinued after Halloween 2013 and any unapplied spells were deleted from players'