Pokémon TCG Pocket Devs Announce Big Changes to Trading System
On March 14, 2025, the devs behind Pokémon TCG Pocket finally spoke up about the Trading system, giving players a sneak peek at how they plan to fix it. When the feature first dropped on January 29, 2025, it got a ton of backlash, with fans calling it “unfair” and complaining about how annoying it was to actually trade cards.
The biggest issue? You couldn’t trade common cards for Trade Tokens, and on top of that, players didn’t have full freedom to swap whatever they wanted. For collectors, this made trading rare EX cards way harder than it needed to be.
The devs acknowledged the criticism, saying they got a “large number of comments” about the system and appreciated the feedback. But after more than a month of silence, they finally announced some big improvements.
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How Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading is Changing
In a post on X, the devs confirmed that Trade Tokens are being completely removed! That means players won’t have to exchange cards just to get the currency needed for trading anymore.
Instead, if you want to trade three-diamond, four-diamond, and one-star rarity cards, you’ll need Shinedust. Right now, Shinedust is mostly used for adding Flairs to Pokémon cards to give them a unique look, but soon it’ll also be required for trading.
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“We are looking into increasing the amount [of Shinedust] offered since it will also be needed for trading. Altogether, this change should allow you to trade more cards than you could before this update,” the devs explained.
For those who already have Trade Tokens, don’t worry—they can be converted into Shinedust once the update goes live. Also, nothing is changing when it comes to trading one-diamond and two-diamond rarity cards.
On top of that, a new wishlist feature is coming, so Trainers can show which cards they’re looking for in the in-game trading system. This should make it way easier to find those missing cards without all the hassle.
And that’s not all—the devs also teased that they’re working on a way to make previously untradeable cards, like promo cards and two-star rarity cards, available for trade in the future. “Keep an eye out for more information about this topic in the future,” they said.
All these updates to Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Trading system are set to roll out by the end of Autumn 2025.
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