Trading is a gameplay feature in Pokémon GO^[1] that enables Trainers who are in close proximity with one another to trade Pokémon.^[2]

Trading

Trading Pokémon can be done between two friends that are in 100 m from each other in real life. All trades require both trainers to use Stardust. The amount of Stardust required for the trade depends on the Friendship Level between the two Trainers and what kinds of Pokémon are being offered in the trade.^[3]

Trainer level 10 is required for trading.

Pokémon that have already been traded cannot be traded again.^[3] A limit of 100 trades can be done in a day. Special Trades do not count towards this limit, but they cannot be performed if the standard trading limit has already been reached for the day.

Process

The stats of the Pokémon will change randomly within a range when traded. Before a Trainer completes a trade, they will see the range of CP and HP values that the Pokémon could potentially have when the trade is complete.

There's a thoughtful calculation to deciding that range:

1. Check Friend's Trainer level to confirm the Pokémon is not powered up past what would ordinarily be obtainable for someone at that level. The calculation is as follows^[4]
   1. If the Pokémon was caught while boosted by Weather, its Power up level is capped to the receiving Trainer's Level +5
   2. If the Pokémon was caught while not boosted by Weather, its Power up level is capped to the receiving Trainer's Level +2
   3. For example, a Trainer of Level 30 can receive a Pokémon of up to Power up level 35 (Weather boosted) or 32 (not Weather boosted). If the Pokémon is of higher Power up level, its CP will be reduced down to that Power up level.
2. Assign new, fully random Individual Values with a minimum based on Friendship Level, and that base increases the higher that level is.

Possible IV Ranges after trading

The minimum value for each IV value is determined based on the Friendship Level between the two Trainers participating in the trade:

Friendship Level	Possible IV range after Trade
Good Friend	1 ~ 15
Great Friend	2 ~ 15
Ultra Friend	3 ~ 15
Best Friend	5 ~ 15
Lucky Friend (Lucky Trade)	12 ~ 15

Special Trades

Special Trades are all trades involving Legendary Pokémon, permitted Mythical Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, Shiny Pokémon, Purified Pokémon, Gigantamax Pokémon, and Pokémon that have not been registered in one of the participating Trainer's Pokédex (including different forms of the same Pokémon, such as Alolan forms or costumed forms). Special Trades can only be performed once per day, barring special events or Season-specific bonuses. Special Trades cost significantly more Stardust than standard trades.

Banned trades

The following Pokémon are not allowed to be traded.^[5]

• Some specific Pokémon including most Mythical Pokémon
• "Slashed" (Pokémon acquired by spoofing or botting)
• Current Buddy Pokémon
• Pokémon currently defending Gyms or left at Power Spots
• Fainted or not at full health
• Unhatched eggs
• Shadow Pokémon
• Pokémon that were already traded
• Pokémon currently in their Mega or Primal forms
• Fused Pokémon^[6]
• Zacian and Zamazenta currently in their Crowned forms (they must be changed to their Hero of Many Battles forms before trading)
• Pokémon placed at Pokémon Playgrounds

Lucky Pokémon

Main article: Lucky Pokémon

When trading Pokémon, there is a chance that Pokémon can become a Lucky Pokémon. Lucky Pokémon require less Stardust to power up.

Candy and Candy XL

When you trade away a Pokémon, you receive an amount of their type of Candy and a chance to receive one of their type of Candy XL. The amount of Candy received and the chance to receive a Candy XL^[7] depends on how far apart the Pokémon were captured.

Capture distance between Pokémon	Candy	XL Candy chance
10 km or less	1	Around 10%
10 - 100 km	2	Around 25%
100 km or greater	3	100%

Remote Trade

After becoming Forever Friends, Remote Trading is unlocked between the two Trainers. Remote Trading allows for Trainers to trade Pokémon regardless of how far apart they are. One Remote Trade is unlocked once becoming Forever Friends, and additional Remote Trades are awarded upon earning further Friendship Points.^[8]

Remote Trading has a different process than regular Trading. A "Remote Trade" tag must first be assigned to any Pokémon a Trainer is willing to offer in a Remote Trade. Once a Remote Trade is started, each Trainer takes turns selecting up to three of their friend's Pokémon that are tagged with the "Remote Trade" tag. Each Trainer then selects one of those Pokémon that they would like to receive via the Remote Trade. Once reviewed, the trade is confirmed. Either Trainer may decline the current request at any point during the process and start it over.

Remote Trades do not count as a Special Trade, even one or both of the Pokémon being traded would have otherwise counted as one.

If the two Trainers are Lucky Friends, the traded Pokémon become Lucky Pokémon and the Trainers will no longer be Lucky Friends as per normal.

In addition to the usual list of banned trades, Pokémon caught in the last 30 days are unable to be included in a Remote Trade.

Trading costs

Performing any Pokémon trade costs a specific amount of Stardust, which depends on the Friendship Level of the two Trainers, whether or not each Pokémon is registered in each Trainers' Pokédex, and what kind of trade is being performed (regular or Special Trade).

Below there is a table with all possible costs for Pokémon trades.

• Regular Pokémon term includes regular Pokémon, region-exclusive Pokémon, baby Pokémon and starter Pokémon. (Or, everything that isn't either a Legendary, any Pokémon's Shiny form, or any individual Pokémon that can Gigantamax.)
• New Pokémon term means that Pokémon is not registered in trainer's Pokédex prior to the trade (ie: the Pokédex entry is either fully blank or grey for that exact form). It also includes when a Pokémon species may have different forms, regions, or costumed — for example, new letter forms of Unown, event costumed Pikachu, Alolan/Galar forms of Pokémon, Castform weather forms, etc.
  • Note that any Shiny form that has not been registered counts as new; the cost is not affected by having registered the base form or even another Shiny form of a variant of that Pokémon (unless something happens like a Costume Shiny unintentionally resulting in registering the normal Shiny form of the species).

Level	Regular Pokémon		Gigantamax, Shiny, or Legendary Pokémon
	Registered	New	Registered	New
Good Friend	100	20,000	20,000	1,000,000
Great Friend	100	16,000	16,000	800,000
Ultra Friend	100	1,600	1,600	80,000
Best Friend	100	800	800	40,000

It is noticeable that costs for unregistered regular Pokémon are the same as for already registered Gigantamax, Shiny, or Legendary Pokémon. Additionally, the friendship discount applies only to special trades and the cost of regular trade is always 100 Stardust regardless the friendship level.

Trade evolution

Since January 10^th, 2020, certain Pokémon result in no Candy cost to evolve if it has been previously traded.^[9] Trading lower evolution (e.g. Machop) first also applies to this benefit to the relevant evolution stage.

The following Pokémon can evolve with the trade discount:

Trading tips

Following tips are displayed on the trading page during the waiting for another trainer to connect the trade.

• You can only trade with friends who are nearby.
• Special Trades can only occur once a day.
• You can't trade a Pokémon that has been traded previously.
• The stats of the traded Pokémon will randomly change after trading.
• You can find the trading rules using the Help button located above.
• If your friend’s Trainer level is lower than yours, the traded Pokémon’s potential CP and HP will be adjusted.
• Pokémon not yet registered in your Pokédex require a Special Trade.
• Your Friendship level must reach Good Friend in order to complete a Special Trade.
• You'll receive bonus Candy if the locations where the traded Pokémon were caught are far apart (up to around 100 km).
• The amount of Stardust required for trading drastically reduces as your Friendship level increases.
• Shiny Pokémon, Legendary Pokémon, and Pokémon not currently in your Pokédex require a Special Trade.
• Completing a Special Trade requires a large amount of Stardust.
• Your Friendship level with a friend increases when you trade Pokémon to each other frequently.
• Mythical Pokémon can't be traded.

Development

2016

Trading has existed in the game's data as early as August 2016^[1], where it was interpreted as an "online marketplace".

2017

In March 2017, Niantic gave more information about the upcoming mechanic. They stated that "the person needs to be in your proximity" in order for trading to occur.^[2]

2018

On June 18^th, 2018, one of the most anticipated game features by players was finally announced to be released soon. ^{[10] [11]}

Gallery

Trivia

• Normally, certain Pokémon, such as Legendary Pokémon, are obtained with Individual Values that can not be lower than a 10. However, trading one of those to a friend, may result in any stat being lower than a 10, as trades have different lower IV bounds based on Friendship level. This includes Egg-only (baby Pokémon) and Raid-exclusives.^[12]
  • However, as some Legendary Pokémon can be obtained from Team GO Rocket Raids, Giovanni, GO Battle League (when IV floor is removed), the wild, and Daily Adventure Incense, and as such do not have the same lower bound, trading one of these may actually result in significantly better IVs than it had before.
• Pokémon received through trading count towards progress such as medals for catching that type of Pokémon.
• Searching the phrase "traded" and "tradeevolve" in Pokémon search return the list of all traded Pokémon and Pokémon eligible for trade evolution bonuses respectively.
• From November 12^th to 16^th, 2020, a limited-time test allowed trading distance to be 12 km at max. The exact distance is only mentioned in Korean blog post.^[13]
• From November 18^th to 23^rd, 2020, another limited-time test allowed trading distance to about 50 km at max.^[14]
  • It was extended to November 30^th, 2020.^[15]
• According to Niantic:
  • The reason why traded Pokémon cannot be traded again is "to bar Trainers from continually re-rolling a Pokémon's stats through trade" and to "incentivize trading without giving a significant advantage to one Trainer over another."^[3]
  • The reason why Special Trades are so costly is "to prevent exploitation and the creation of a black market, which would devalue the hard work of Trainers who have managed to encounter and catch rare or powerful Pokémon."^[3]

References