All over the world, people are playing Pokemon Go. These beloved creatures have wormed their way into our hearts and aren't leaving anytime soon. Who wouldn't want them in their pocket at all times?

As a Pokemon trainer, it's only natural that you'd want to trade Pokemon with your friends. Other trainers can give you powerful Pokemon you may not have, help you earn extra Candies to power up your best teammates, and more. In this article, we detail everything you need to know to be an informed trader in Pokemon Go.

Updated on October 6, 2023, by Gabrielle Huston: We've updated this article with more information about trading so that you're fully prepared to make the best of this mechanic!

How To Trade Pokemon With A Friend

Prerequisites

In order to trade Pokemon with someone, you must be Friends with the other trainer and both trainers must be at least level 10.

You can trade any Pokemon except:

• Shadow Pokemon
• Mythical Pokemon
  • Meltan and Melmetal are the exceptions, as they can be traded

• Pokemon you have already received in a trade
• Pokemon who are not at full health
• Your current Buddy Pokemon
• Pokemon obtained through illegitimate means (known as "Slashed" Pokemon)

Each trainer can only make 100 trades per day, but you'll probably never have to worry about that.

1. Hang Out With The Other Trainer In Real Life

In order to trade with each other, the two trainers must be within 40km of one another. While that is a considerable distance to play with, we don't recommend that you meet up with strangers to trade Pokemon.

2. Pull Up The Other Trainer's Profile

Start by finding the other trainer on your Friends list. Tap on your own face on the main screen, then swipe to reach your Friends list.

From there, find and tap on the player you want to trade with. Select 'Trade' from the menu to start trading. Both players need to do this.

Occasionally, Pokemon Go will incorrectly tell you the other player is too far away to trade; if that happens to you, just back out of your Friends list and try again.

3. Connect And Choose A Pokemon To Trade

When both trainers have entered the trade, it will automatically pull up your list of Pokemon. From here, you can search using any of the normal filters and select a Pokemon you want to trade.

Once you select a Pokemon from the list, it will ask you to confirm your choice. This little menu shows you the moves this Pokemon knows, where it was caught, when it was caught, and what the Pokemon's CP and HP might be after the trade.

4. Confirm The Trade

Confirm your choice one more time on the menu where you can see both the Pokemon; this final step is to help a player avoid making a trade that they feel is unfair. Once both players have hit Confirm, the trade will commence!

5. Check Your New Pokemon's Stats

After you receive a Pokemon, the game will pull up its summary. This is important because, as we alluded to earlier, a Pokemon's CP, HP, and stats are rerolled after a trade. There are lots of reasons behind this, including balancing Pokemon that high-level players give to low-level players.

Earning Candy Through Trades

Each time you trade a Pokemon, you earn at least one of that Pokemon's Candy.

When you catch a Pokemon, the game records where in the world you were and attaches that location to the Pokemon. If two Pokemon being traded were caught far away from one another, you will earn more Candies.

At level 31, you also have the chance of earning one Candy XL from a trade. The number of Candies XL you receive will not change based on distance, but your odds of getting it will.

Some special events may alter the number of Candy or Candy XL that you receive.

What Are Special Trades And Lucky Trades?

There are two unique types of trades: Special and Lucky.

Special Trades

If a trade you're making in-game is a Special Trade, that means that something about the trade is abnormal. It has to do with the Pokemon you and your friend choose to trade with one another. Any of the following circumstances will lead to a Special Trade:

• If one or both of the players will be receiving a Pokemon that they haven't already registered to their Pokedex
  • This includes special forms of Pokemon, such as a Pikachu wearing a special hat, shiny Pokemon, a different weather variant of Castform, etc. — if you haven't already had an Eevee with a flower crown and a friend tries to trade you one, it will be a Special Trade even if you've had an Eevee.

• If a Legendary Pokemon is being traded
• If a Shiny Pokemon is being traded
• If an Ultra Beast is being traded
• If a Purified Pokemon is being traded (Shadow Pokemon cannot be traded)

The game still allows you to trade if it meets one of the circumstances above, there are just some consequences:

1. First, you can only make one Special Trade per day. The only exception is during some events.
2. Second, you must be Good Friends or better to make a Special Trade.
3. Third, a Special Trade costs significantly more Stardust.

Lucky Trades

Lucky Trades are a bit more complicated. The main reason you want to have Lucky Pokemon - especially ones with a high CP - is because they cost half as much Stardust to power up.

When your best Ho-Oh costs around 7,000 Stardust to power up after reaching 3,000 CP, it makes a huge difference if you only have to spend 3,500 Stardust to power it up.

Just imagine how much stronger your team could be if you could power them up twice as often! Of course, you'll still need the Pokemon's Candy, but that's much easier to come by than the mountains of Stardust.

Lucky Trades are determined almost entirely by random chance, but there are ways to increase your odds of getting a Lucky. We have a full guide on Lucky Trades, including how you can improve your odds, so check that out!

How To Calculate The Stardust Cost Of A Trade

Trading Pokemon costs you and your friend Stardust. It can be anywhere from 1,000,000 Stardust to just 100 Stardust. Having a high friendship level and having the Pokemon registered in your Pokedex already will both decrease the Stardust cost of a trade.

To calculate the Stardust cost of any individual trade, refer to these charts:

It's worth pointing out that Purified Pokemon cost the same amount to trade as regular Pokemon, even though they require a Special Trade.

Pokemon That Evolve Via Trading

Certain Pokemon can be evolved without any Candy if you received it from a friend in a trade. These include:

• Kadabra into Alakazam
• Machoke into Machamp
• Graveler into Golem
• Alolan Geodude into Alolan Golem
• Haunter into Gengar
• Boldore into Gigalith
• Gurdurr into Conkeldurr
• Karrablast into Escavalier
• Shelmet into Accelgor
• Phantump into Trevenant
• Pumpkaboo into Gourgeist

If the benefit is given in the second evolution step, it still counts if you receive the lowest form in the trade. You evolve it into the second form using Candies, then into the third form for free.

For example, if you receive Geodude in a trade, you can evolve it into Graveler with 25 Candies and then into Golem for free.

NEXT: How Many Pokemon Are There? A Full Analysis And Breakdown