Pokémon GO Trading: Ultimate GO Hub Guide

One of the most useful features of Pokémon GO is the ability to trade Pokémon with other players, adding a social and collaborative element to the experience. If you’re new to trading in Pokémon GO, here’s a comprehensive guide to get you started!

Requirements for Trading

Before you can start trading Pokémon with your friends, there are a few prerequisites you need to meet:

• Trainer Level: You must be at least level 10 to unlock the trading feature.
• Proximity: You and the player you want to trade with need to be physically close to each other, usually within 100 meters, unless you are Forever Friends and have earnt a Remote Trade in which case you can trade from anywhere in the world.
• Friendship Levels: There are different Friendship Levels (Good Friends, Great Friends, Ultra Friends, Best Friends and Forever Friends) that offer trading benefits, such as reduced Stardust costs, increased chances for Lucky Trades, and even Remote Trading. You need to be at least Good Friends to initiate a trade.

How to Trade

Trading in Pokémon GO is a relatively straightforward process:

• Tap on the friend’s avatar: Go to your Friends List, select the friend you want to trade with, and tap on their avatar.
• Initiate a trade: Once you’re on your friend’s profile screen, tap the “Trade” button.
• Select the Pokémon: Both you and your friend will need to choose the Pokémon you want to trade. You can either select from your current Pokémon storage or use the search function to find specific Pokémon.
• Confirm the trade: Once both players have selected their Pokémon, you’ll see a summary of the trade, including the Stardust cost. Confirm the trade to initiate the exchange.
• This works differently for Remote Trading, which we cover below.

Trade Costs

Trades in Pokémon GO require Stardust, a valuable in-game resource. The amount of Stardust required for a trade depends on several factors, such as your Friendship Level, and whether it’s a Special Trade. Higher Friendship Levels reduce the Stardust cost.

Remote Trading and Forever Friends

To reach Forever Friends, Trainers must earn 90 Friendship Points with each Friend after becoming Best Friends.

Friendship Points are a new progression system that replaces the old “daily interaction” mechanic as the main way to track friendship progression between Trainers.

You can earn up to 1 Friendship Point per day per Friend by doing a variety of activities together:

Trading

Sending Gifts

Completing other friendship interactions

You can also speed up progress by completing Weekly Challenges with your Friends, earning up to 7 extra Friendship Points per week. Any event bonuses that boost friendship gain (for example, double friendship points during special events) will apply to Forever Friends progression.

Every time you earn 90 Friendship Points, you’ll unlock one Remote Trade with that Friend. Forever Friends is a repeatable level: you can continue earning Friendship Points and receive additional Remote Trades each time you hit 90 points again.

However, Remote Trades don’t stack. If you already have an unused Remote Trade, you’ll need to use it before earning another one.

Additionally, each Remote Trade is tied to the Friend you earned it with. It can’t be transferred or used with any other Friend. Trainers can complete one Remote Trade per day across all Friends, regardless of how many Forever Friends they have.

Before your first Remote Trade, you’ll be prompted to use a special Remote Trade tag to mark the Pokémon you’re willing to trade with your Forever Friends.

Once you and another Trainer become Forever Friends, you’ll each be able to see one another’s Pokémon that are tagged for Remote Trading. These are the only Pokémon available for trade.

How to Remote Trade

To start a Remote Trade:

1. Trainers take turns selecting up to three Pokémon from their Friend’s tagged list that they’d like to receive.
2. These selections are sent to the other Trainer as a trade “wish list.”
3. Each Trainer then chooses one Pokémon from their Friend’s wish list to offer in return.
4. Both Trainers review the final selections and can confirm or cancel the trade at any time.

You’re not locked in during the process. Either Trainer can decline or restart the trade at any point before confirming.

If you’re Lucky Friends, your next trade — even if it’s remote — will result in a Lucky Pokémon. After completing the trade, you’ll no longer be Lucky Friends, just like with normal in-person trades. You can also use Lucky Trinkets as normal to guarantee a Lucky Pokémon.

Trainers can complete one Remote Trade per day, and Remote Trades do not count as Special Trades, no matter which Pokémon are traded.

🚫 Pokémon That Are Banned from Remote Trades

The following Pokémon cannot be included in a Remote Trade:

• Pokémon caught in the last 30 days
• Previously traded Pokémon
• Shadow Pokémon
• Mythical Pokémon
• Pokémon defending Gyms or Power Spots
• Pokémon currently set as your buddy
• Actively Mega-Evolved Pokémon
• Fused Pokémon
• Crowned Sword Zacian and Crowned Shield Zamazenta
• Pokémon placed at Pokémon Playgrounds

Evolution Trades

Trade Evolutions can be evolved as usual, but are expensive, requiring 100 candies. If you receive these Pokémon in a trade from another trainer, it won’t cost you anything to evolve them. Remember, you can only trade a Pokémon once, so it is best to hold onto these Pokémon until your friend has one too, so you can trade and both benefit from the free evolution.

Pokémon with trade evolutions include:

Special Trades

Special Trades are trades involving Legendary, Shiny, or Pokémon not yet registered in your Pokédex. These trades have a higher Stardust cost, even with high Friendship Levels. You can only perform one Special Trade per day (unless noted otherwise during an event), so choose wisely.

Lucky Trades and Lucky Friends

When you become Best Friends with another player in Pokémon GO, any interaction that would typically increase your friendship levels (i.e. the first interaction each day that gives your friend the blue halo), has a chance to trigger Lucky Friends. This means that your next trade with that player will result in both traded Pokémon becoming Lucky Pokémon. Niantic hasn’t released the odds of achieving Lucky Friends on each interaction, but data from The Silph Road subreddit note that the Lucky Friends odds is a little bit below 2% per exchange.

After making a trade in Pokémon GO, there’s a possibility that the Pokémon you receive is Lucky. This type of trade costs the same amount of stardust and looks identical to a regular trade. However, you’ll notice that you’ve received a Lucky Pokémon only when you see the summary of the received Pokémon. When a Lucky Trade happens, both the players involved in the trade receive Lucky Pokémon.

If you have had a Pokémon for an extended period, you’re more likely to get a Lucky. The age of the oldest Pokémon participating in a trade is the only factor that the game considers. Therefore, trading two old Pokémon does not provide any tangible benefit compared to trading one old and one freshly caught Pokémon.

Niantic hasn’t confirmed the odds, but these are what the players have observed:

A Lucky Pokémon requires half the Stardust to power up and has an IV floor of 12/12/12. This is a fantastic way to get powerful Pokémon with less Stardust investment.

Guaranteed Lucky Trade without Lucky Friends trick

In 2018, Niantic announced a major update for the Lucky Pokémon system! According to the official blog post – If you trade a Pokémon that was caught between July 2016 – August 2016, it is guaranteed to become a Lucky Pokémon.

Every account has a hidden counter of the number of guaranteed lucky trades they participated in.

Note, this is NOT the number of lucky trades you have had in total. Lucky friend trades and random lucky trades do not affect the counter.

If you trade a Pokémon caught before 31st December 2018, the trade will go lucky if your ‘hidden counter’ of guaranteed lucky trades is less than 25. Both Trainers in the trade will then have their counter increase by 1.

Only one of the Pokémon in the trade has to be caught before 31st December 2018. This Pokémon is the ‘trigger’. The trainer with the ‘trigger’ Pokémon must not have more than 25 guaranteed trades on their hidden counter.

Check out this article for a more in-depth explanation.

Trade Restrictions

There are a few important restrictions to keep in mind:

• Mythical Pokémon: You can’t trade Mythical Pokémon (like Mew, Celebi, etc.)
• Previously Traded Pokémon: Pokémon that you have received through a trade before cannot be traded again. You can search for previously traded Pokémon using the search string ‘traded’.
• Shadow Pokémon: You can’t trade Shadow ‘mons
• Trainers that log in using Niantic Kids or Pokémon Trainer Club may need to enable social features in the Niantic Kids Parent Portal or Pokémon Trainer Club website. Learn more here.
• Fused Pokémon: You cannot trade Pokémon that are Fused.

In Conclusion

Trading in Pokémon GO is a fantastic way to connect with friends, expand your Pokédex, and even obtain powerful Lucky Pokémon. Make sure to meet the requirements, consider the costs, and take advantage of Friendship Levels to make the most out of your trades. Happy trading!