After the worldwide phenomena has finally died down a bit (remember all those totally nuts best and worst things to happen when it landed in 2016?), its hard to believe Pokemon Go just turned two years old this summer!
The lack of trading at launch was a huge criticism among the player base, since that has been a part of this franchise since friends were connecting their black and white Game Boys together back in the ’90s!
Trading Pokemon is finally here in Go, but only with people on your friends list, and it will hit you pretty hard in your Stardust account when you first get started.
Trading In Pokemon Go
Trading only becomes available once both you and the friend you are trading with are at trainer level 10 (which should be just about everyone at this point).
To get started with the updated trading interface, tap your head / trainer name icon in the lower-left corner, then navigate to the Friends tab. Tap a friend’s name and then you can choose the Trade interface found in the lower-right corner.
Stardust trading costs are absurdly astronomical for Pokemon that you don’t already have in your Pokedex (meaning you haven’t ever caught one before on your own) but they drop off by massive levels as you increase in friendship level with another player.
Trading and checking friendship level
This artificially high cost structure keeps the trading economy from immediately toppling over and going nuts so everyone can’t immediately trade the strongest, highest level Pokemon back and forth to each other.
The traded Pokemon’s level, HP, and CP also drop to be commensurate with your player level when trading, so you can’t fill up on ultra strong Pokemon just by trading.
The minimum stat level of the traded Pokemon is also influenced by your friendship level with the other player, so the higher your friendship, the better the Pokemon will be when it arrives in your Pokedex.
Keep in mind that the same Pokemon can only be traded once, so you can’t chain them repeatedly through multiple trades and will have to catch new ones instead. Trading also impacts medals, so for instance tiny Rattata will get you closer to the Youngster medal, while XL Magikarps get you closer to the Fisherman medal.
Pokemon Go Stardust Trading Cost Chart
| Type | Not Present In Pokedex Cost | Already Present In Pokedex Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20,000 | 100 |
| Regional | 20,000 | 100 |
| Shiny | 1,000,000 | 20,000 |
| Legendary | 1,000,000 | 20,000 |
Notice that there’s no slot on that table for mythical? That’s because they can’t be traded at all! You’ve got to earn those Pokemon all by yourself.
The prices for non-registered Pokemon are insane, but there’s a massive discount for increasing your friendship level with a trading partner. The discount starts at 20% for Great but sharply increases to 92% when you hit the Ultra level.
This means that those 1,000,000 Stardust cost trades for Pokemon not in your Pokedex drop all the way down to 80,000 at the Ultra level.
How do you increase friendship in Pokemon Go? The friendship level goes up when you send (or receive) a gift with that friend, or when you trade Pokemon, so it takes a good deal of Stardust to increase the level unless you want to frequently send gifts of Pokeballs and other consumables.
Here are the exact discounts provided at each Pokemon Go friendship level:
| Friendship Level | Stardust Discount |
|---|---|
| Good | 0% |
| Great | 20% |
| Ultra | 92% |
| Best | 96% |
Now that you’re all set for trading, still need help with the rest of this genre-changing AR game? Check out our other Pokemon Go guides here:
- How To Get Coins In Pokemon Go
- Pokemon Go Gym Guide
- Pokemon Go Raiding Guide
- How To Get A Pikachu With An Ash Hat
- How To Beat Groudon In Pokemon Go
