How Much Does Pokémon GO Stardust Trade Cost?

Published on May 6, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 14 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

Pokémon GO trading is a two-trainer swap done from the Friends screen. Before you hit confirm, the trade panel shows the Stardust required, so you can stop the swap if the number is higher than you want to spend.

Some swaps sit at pocket-change levels, and others jump into five or six digits because of what is being traded and how far along the friendship is. The priciest outcomes show up when the recipient is receiving something new, like a shiny, a legendary, or a Pokédex entry.

Think of the Stardust charge as a gate, not a cash checkout. It is a game rule designed to slow high-value exchanges, and the size of the gate changes when a trade counts as a Special Trade, when a Pokémon is registered or not registered to the receiver, and when limited-time bonuses are active.

Stardust is assessed per trade, per trainer, and the cost can change with friendship hearts and Pokédex registration. The same pair of trainers can see a different requirement on Monday than on Sunday if an event bonus applies.

In Pokémon GO, the Stardust requirement is shown per trade and per trainer, and both players need enough Stardust to finish the swap. Friendship tier and Pokédex registration drive most of the spread, with Special Trades creating the biggest jumps.

How Much Does Pokémon GO Stardust Trade Cost?

Jump to sections

The trade Stardust chart lists trade Stardust from 100 to 1,000,000, with 40,000 as the Best Friends figure for an unregistered shiny or legendary.

Important numbers

• Floor for a registered swap per trainer 100 Stardust
• Upper end for an unregistered shiny or legendary at low friendship 1,000,000 Stardust
• Same category at Best Friends 40,000 Stardust

What you’re actually buying

Pokémon GO trading is a controlled swap tool inside the app. Two trainers select one Pokémon each and confirm the exchange, and the game recalculates stats after the swap. That stat reroll is the main reason trainers trade even when they already have the species, since the incoming Pokémon can land with a better set of IVs for raids or PvP.

Trading is not a marketplace, and it is not a way to move a Pokémon through a chain of accounts. A Pokémon that has already been traded once cannot be traded again, so it will not circulate endlessly. Trading also does not bypass capture availability, because many trades are gated by distance rules or by friendship level progress. Compared with chasing the same species in the wild, trading is a targeted path to that species, yet the trade rules decide when it is cheap enough to do in volume.

Worked example

The Stardust amounts below follow a published cost chart that breaks fees out by friendship level and by whether the swap is registered, unregistered, shiny, or legendary.

• Ten registered mirror trades at 100 each equals 1,000 Stardust for one trainer.
• One unregistered regular Pokédex entry at Ultra Friends costs 1,600 Stardust for one trainer.
• One unregistered shiny or legendary at Ultra Friends costs 80,000 Stardust for one trainer.

Using the trade cost grid, add 1,000 plus 1,600 plus 80,000, which equals 82,600 Stardust for one account for that plan, and about 165,200 Stardust across the pair if both sides mirror the same mix of trades.

The trade cost schedule

If you want a single chart to plan around, the Stardust cost schedule publishes the requirements for regular trades and shiny or legendary trades across Good, Great, Ultra, and Best Friends.

Trade type	Good Friends	Ultra Friends	Best Friends
Registered regular	100	100	100
Unregistered regular	20,000	1,600	800
Registered shiny or legendary	20,000	1,600	800
Unregistered shiny or legendary	1,000,000	80,000	40,000

In practice, the cost you see can jump even when you are not trading a shiny or a legendary, because “unregistered” includes a lot more than a missing species. A form that is not in your Pokédex can push a trade into the Special Trade bucket, and that is why two trainers can be surprised by a bigger Stardust number on what looks like an ordinary swap.

Special Trades and friendship tiers

Niantic defines Special Trades as a category that includes Pokémon not already in your Pokédex, Legendary Pokémon, Shiny Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, and certain forms, and it also states that special trades require more Stardust and are limited per day in normal play on the Special Trades list.

The fastest way to shrink a Special Trade charge is to build friendship. Niantic’s friendship points milestones list shows that Great Friends, Ultra Friends, and Best Friends each come with stronger reductions in trading Stardust requirements, with the Best Friends milestone reached at 90 friendship points and Forever Friends reached at 180.

From the trade cost chart, an unregistered shiny or legendary is 1,000,000 Stardust at Good Friends and 40,000 at Best Friends, so the gap is 1,000,000 minus 40,000, which equals 960,000 Stardust saved by waiting for the higher friendship tier. Dust is gone.

Event windows and discounts

Niantic runs trade-focused windows where the same trade can show a smaller Stardust requirement than it does on a normal day. During the 2025 run, the Sunday Trade Days bonuses list includes one additional Special Trade and a 10% Stardust reduction for trades.

Some ticketed events have gone further. The GO Fest add-on bonuses include 1/2 Stardust cost for all trades during ticketed citywide gameplay, and the cost table snapshot shows a Best Friends unregistered shiny or legendary line of 40,000 Stardust, which means that specific trade would display at 20,000 during a true half-cost window because 40,000 divided by 2 equals 20,000.

Remote trading and distance rules

Remote trading exists, but it is not a constant feature you can use every day with every friend. Niantic’s remote trading FAQ says Forever Friends unlock remote trading, and it ties remote trades to a progress system where you earn one Remote Trade on first becoming Forever Friends and then must earn another 90 friendship points together after completing that remote trade to do another.

The separate Forever Friends update also states that Remote Trades do not count as Special Trades, and it lists categories that cannot be used in a Remote Trade, including Pokémon caught in the last 30 days, previously traded Pokémon, Shadow Pokémon, and Mythical Pokémon. Both players pay attention to that eligibility list, because a blocked pick can force you to rebuild the trade offer.

Hidden Stardust drains

A trade plan rarely sits alone. The Stardust you spend to trade is Stardust you cannot spend in the same session to power up a raid attacker, unlock a second charged move, or purify a Shadow. That is why the number on the confirm button can feel larger than it looks, even when the trade itself seems justified.

Three common real-world patterns show up when trainers map out Stardust for trading. One is a low-drama storage cleanup where two Best Friends do registered mirror swaps at the floor shown earlier, trying for a better IV roll. Another is a Pokédex fill where one side is receiving an unregistered regular species at a mid-tier friendship level, and the trade cost sits in the four-digit range. The third is the headline shock, a new shiny or legendary for a low-friendship contact, where the trade screen can display the seven-figure number even before you add the rest of your upgrade plans.

Collectors who are also spending out of game may think in budgets across hobbies, from Pokémon 30th items to PSA grading, and Stardust becomes another constraint to schedule, not just a currency to grind.

Who this cost makes sense for

Stardust trade costs make sense when you are targeting outcomes that are hard to reach by catching, raiding, or hatching on your own. They hurt when you are still building baseline teams and every chunk of Stardust has a clear battle use.

• Makes sense if
  • You are finishing Pokédex entries and can wait for stronger friendship discounts before a Special Trade.
  • You are doing mirror trades right after events to chase better IV rolls on a specific species.
  • You are coordinating a remote trade with a Forever Friend and the Pokémon you want are eligible for remote rules.
  • You are using trading to replace a weaker copy of a raid staple with a stronger one.

• Doesn’t make sense if
  • You are short on Stardust and still powering up core counters for raids or PvP cups.
  • You are trying to do a brand-new shiny or legendary swap with a one-heart friend.
  • You need high-volume Special Trades in a day outside of a bonus window.
  • Your main goal is candy, since Stardust may be a tighter bottleneck than candy for your roster.

What we verified

• Checked the original Friends and Trading announcement for the baseline idea of friendship-gated trading.
• Confirmed early rule framing in the 2018 trading explainer on how trading works inside the app.
• Verified a second legacy walkthrough in the trading system explainer for consistency on the core constraints.

Answers to Common Questions

Do both trainers pay Stardust when trading?

The trade confirmation screen shows a Stardust requirement next to the confirm button for each trainer, so each side needs enough Stardust available at the moment the trade is completed.

Why is a normal-looking trade sometimes labeled a Special Trade?

Special status can be triggered by Pokédex registration, forms that are not registered, shinies, legendaries, and other categories Niantic groups under Special Trades, so a trade that looks routine can still fall into the higher-cost bucket.

Can Trade Days reduce the cost of a shiny or legendary trade?

Yes, the trade screen can show a lower Stardust requirement during bonus windows that apply a discount to trades, and the effect stacks with friendship-based reductions when both are active.

Does a Remote Trade count against the daily Special Trade limit?

The Forever Friends remote trading update states that Remote Trades do not count as Special Trades, even when the Pokémon traded would have counted as special in a standard in-person trade.