Trading Smart: Lucky Trades, Special Trade Costs and Forever Friends

A trade does not move a Pokemon from one account to another unchanged. The species, its moves and whether it is shiny carry over; the three IVs are thrown away and rolled again, and the CP changes with them. A traded Pokemon can never be traded a second time, so that one roll is final. Everything else about trading follows from those two facts.

The new IVs have a floor set by your friendship level with the other trainer. The floor is the lowest value each of Attack, Defense and HP can come back with.

To trade at all, both trainers need to be level 10 and standing within 100 metres of each other (events sometimes extend the range). The limit is 100 trades a day.

When a trade turns Lucky, both Pokemon come out with every IV at 12 or higher and cost half the Stardust to power up, permanently. The discount is the real prize:

• Level 20 to 40 costs 225,000 Stardust. Lucky: 225,000 × 0.5 = 112,500.
• Level 40 to 50 costs 250,000 Stardust. Lucky: 250,000 × 0.5 = 125,000.
• Level 20 to 50 in full: 475,000 becomes 237,500. The Candy and XL Candy cost does not change.

The discount stacks with the purified one (×0.9), so a Lucky purified Pokemon pays 0.5 × 0.9 = 0.45 of the normal Stardust.

With a floor of 12, each IV can only be 12, 13, 14 or 15. If the four values are equally likely, that is 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 possible spreads and one of them is 15/15/15 — a 1 in 64 shot at a perfect Pokemon per Lucky trade. Run the result through the IV checker before you spend anything on it.

Route 1: random luck, better with old Pokemon

Any trade can turn Lucky. Community research puts the base chance at around 5%, rising the longer ago the older of the two Pokemon was caught. These are player-collected figures, not published odds, but the direction is reliable: a Pokemon from years ago is a better trade chip than one from last week.

Route 2: guaranteed by age

Trading a Pokemon that is old enough makes the trade Lucky for certain, until you hit a lifetime cap. Since the New Year 2026 update the window covers Pokemon caught in 2020 or earlier, and the cap is reported as 45 guaranteed Lucky Pokemon (it was raised in steps from 15). Older guides that say "2018 and 25" describe the previous rules. The filter below finds your candidates:

Route 3: Lucky Friends

Once a day, the first interaction between two Best Friends has a small chance of making you Lucky Friends. The next trade between you is then Lucky, guaranteed, and the status is used up. Trainers at level 70 or above have a better chance of triggering it. There is no way to force it beyond interacting with your Best Friends every day.

What to spend a guaranteed Lucky on

The half-price power-ups only matter on something you will take to level 40 or 50, so use it on the Pokemon with the largest Stardust bill ahead of it: a legendary you want for raids or Master League, not a Pokedex filler. Do not spend it on a Great or Ultra League project — a floor of 12 Attack is the opposite of what a CP-capped league rewards. And because Lucky Friends are always Best Friends, the Special Trade involved is always at the cheapest rate in the table below.

A trade is a Special Trade when it includes a legendary, a shiny, or a Pokemon that is not yet in the Pokedex of the trainer receiving it — purified Pokemon and forms you do not own count as new too. You need to be at least Good Friends, and you get one Special Trade a day, shared across all your friends.

Read the bottom row from left to right. Great Friends takes 20% off. Ultra Friends takes 92% off: 80,000 is 8% of 1,000,000. Best Friends takes 96% off. Waiting from day 7 to day 30 — 23 more days of daily interaction — saves 800,000 − 80,000 = 720,000 Stardust on a single trade. That is more than three Pokemon powered from level 20 to 40 (3 × 225,000 = 675,000). There is almost no shiny or legendary worth paying the Great Friend price for.

The middle row is the practical one. If what you receive is already registered in your Pokedex, a shiny or legendary costs 800 Stardust between Best Friends. Two friends who each already own the legendary can swap spares every day for IV rerolls at a cost that rounds to nothing.

When one a day becomes two

Some events raise the limit. Community Days in 2026 have typically included one extra Special Trade and half-price trades until 21:00 local time, which turns the 40,000 Stardust Best Friend price into 40,000 × 0.5 = 20,000. The bonus list differs per event, so check it on the events page before you plan a trading session around it.

Since 11 December 2025 there is a level above Best Friends. Forever Friends takes 90 more friendship points after Best, 180 in total, and reaching it grants one remote trade: a trade with that friend at any distance. The level repeats — every further 90 points with the same friend earns another one.

You normally gain one point per friend per day. Weekly Challenges can add up to 7 more per week, so the fastest pace is 7 + 7 = 14 points a week, and 90 ÷ 14 is about six and a half weeks per remote trade instead of thirteen.

• Only between Forever Friends, and only one remote trade a day in total. Unused ones do not pile up into extra daily trades.
• It does not count as your Special Trade for the day.
• Excluded: Pokemon caught in the last 30 days, Shadow Pokemon, Mythicals, Mega-evolved and fused Pokemon.

No Stardust price for remote trades is quoted here because none could be verified; go by the confirmation screen. The 30-day rule is the one to plan around: the regional or shiny you caught on a trip last weekend cannot go out remotely yet, so an in-person trade is still the only fast route.

PvP rerolls and mirror trades

A spare of a species that matters in Great or Ultra League is a second lottery ticket. Agree with a friend to swap the same species — a mirror trade — and both of you get a fresh roll. Do it at Good or Great Friends when you want low Attack, and check each result in the IV checker before transferring the losers.

Distance trades for XL Candy

When the two Pokemon were caught 100 km or more apart, the trade is guaranteed to give XL Candy (you need trainer level 31 to earn XL at all). Keep what you catch on trips instead of transferring it, and swap catches with friends who travel. The search distance100- lists Pokemon caught at least 100 km from where you are standing, which is a good first filter. With 100 trades a day, a pile of travel catches is one of the most reliable XL sources in the game — see Level 40 to 50 for where that XL should go.

Trade evolutions

Some species evolve for 0 Candy after being traded: Machoke into Machamp and Haunter into Gengar are the usual examples. The search tradeevolve shows yours. Remember the IVs reroll, so trade the ones with poor IVs, not the good one you were saving.

Old Pokemon

Anything from 2020 or earlier is a guaranteed-Lucky chip while you are under the cap, and a better random-Lucky chance after it. Tag them so a storage clean-up does not delete them; the storage routine has the filters.

• Anything that was already traded once. The search traded shows them.
• Mythical Pokemon, with Meltan and Melmetal as the exceptions.
• Shadow Pokemon. A purified one can be traded, but purifying gives up the Shadow attack bonus for good — read Shadow, purified or normal first.
• Fused Pokemon and the Crowned forms of Zacian and Zamazenta.

Three more blocks are temporary: your active buddy, anything marked as a favourite and anything defending a gym. Swap the buddy, remove the star or wait for the defender to come home and they trade normally.

1. Is it a Special Trade? If so it is your only one today. Make sure a better one is not waiting with another friend.
2. What friendship level are you? For a shiny or legendary new to the Pokedex, anything below Ultra Friends is a waste of Stardust: 800,000 against 80,000.
3. What is the Pokemon for? Raids and Master League: highest friendship you have. Great and Ultra League: Good or Great Friends, to keep low Attack possible.
4. Are you Lucky Friends with anyone? Spend it on the Pokemon with the biggest power-up bill, not on the first trade of the day.
5. Would you be sad to lose these IVs? The roll is final and the Pokemon cannot be traded back.
6. Is an event about to make it cheaper? A half-price trading bonus and an extra Special Trade are common on Community Day.