How Special Trades work in Pokémon Go

When performing a trade with another player in Pokémon Go, the two of you have to be decently close to one another. Once you do that, you’ll also need to have a good amount of Stardust to perform the trade. The values can quickly stack up if you and another player don’t have the highest friend stats, but players you actively play Pokémon Go with gives you the best deals. A trainer who is a Best Friend with you gives you far better Stardust trading options compared to another player that is only at the Good Friend status with you. While the values do not matter too much for Special Trades, they are unique. In this guide, we will detail how Special Trades work in Pokémon Go and what makes a special trade.

A Special Trade in Pokémon Go happens when you attempt to trade a legendary Pokémon, a shiny Pokémon, a Pokémon not in a player’s inventory. These trades cost the same amount as any other trade with players in Pokémon Go, but you can perform them once a day. If you want to trade multiple legendary Pokémon to another player, you’ll have to wait a full day between the trades before you can do another. This goes for every player, so if you trade one person a legendary Pokémon, you cannot trade another person a legendary Pokémon. The cooldown goes for every person you attempt to trade with in Pokémon Go.

When trading a shiny or legendary Pokémon with another trainer, the Stardust values are extremely high. They’re even higher if the person you’re trading with has not encounter that Pokémon in the wild, and they do not have them in their Pokédex. If you’re struggling to keep up with your Stardust cost, we highly recommend increasing your friendship level with that player before confirming the trade.

For example, a Good Friend level player trading you a legendary Pokémon can cost 20,000 Stardust, and that’s one you have registered in your Pokédex. If it were unregistered and new to you, it would be 1,000,000 Stardust. When a player at Best Friends level with you trades a registered legendary, it only costs 800, and when it’s new, it costs 40,000. The values are much lower and worth your time to increase your friend level before performing these high-value trades.

There are some occasions where Niantic removes the limit for Special Trades, giving all players access to six Special Trades in a day. You will want to check the Pokémon Go twitter page to see any promotions or upcoming big events where these can happen.