Home News > Pokémon TCG Pocket to Revamp Trading System with Major Updates

Pokémon TCG Pocket to Revamp Trading System with Major Updates

by Jacob Jul 30,2025

The Pokémon TCG Pocket team has unveiled detailed plans for a significant overhaul of the game's problematic trading system, promising substantial improvements that will take time to implement.

In a recent community forum post, the developers outlined the upcoming changes, which are summarized below:

Elimination of Trade Tokens

Trade tokens will be discontinued, removing the need to exchange cards for a trading currency. Instead, trading cards of three-diamond, four-diamond, and one-star rarity will now require shinedust, a resource automatically earned when opening booster packs containing cards already in your Card Dex. As shinedust is also used for card flairs, the team plans to increase its availability to support trading. This shift aims to enable more frequent card trades. Existing trade tokens will be converted to shinedust upon removal. Trading for one-diamond and two-diamond rarity cards remains unchanged.

New Features in Progress

A new tool will allow players to share cards they wish to trade for directly within the in-game trading system.

The most significant update is the removal of trade tokens, a currency introduced solely for trading that has been widely criticized. Currently, trading requires sacrificing valuable cards to earn tokens—for example, trading one ex Pokémon card demands discarding five others to gather enough tokens, a process both players must endure.

The new system, centered on shinedust, appears more promising. Shinedust, already used for card flairs, is earned automatically from duplicate cards and through events. Many players likely have a stockpile of it, and the developers are exploring ways to provide even more to facilitate trading.

Some trading cost is necessary to prevent abuse, such as creating multiple accounts to funnel rare cards to a main account. However, the current token system is prohibitively expensive, discouraging most players from trading.

Another key improvement is the ability to share desired cards within the trading interface. Currently, players can list cards for trade but cannot specify what they want in return without external communication. This limitation has stifled trading, especially with strangers. The new feature should make trades more straightforward and encourage broader participation.

The community has responded positively to these updates, though frustration remains over the loss of rare cards sacrificed for tokens, which cannot be recovered despite the token-to-shinedust conversion. The biggest downside is the timeline: these changes won’t roll out until fall, leaving players with a flawed system in the interim. Trading may stall as players avoid wasting cards with better options on the horizon.

Until then, conserving shinedust seems the best strategy!

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