Got a StatTrak AK skin from a trade. Does the kill counter actually add value or is it just a personal preference thing?

StatTrak adds some value but not as much as you'd think. Maybe 20-30% more than the regular version depending on the skin

StatTrak pricing is weird because it depends heavily on the specific skin and how popular it is. Check https://dmarket.com/cs2-wiki/ to compare StatTrak versus normal versions of your exact AK skin. Some desirable skins like Redline or Vulcan have strong StatTrak demand, while unpopular skins barely see any price increase. The orange counter looks cool but most traders don't care about existing kill counts since it resets on trade anyway