Pokemon TCG Pocket trading overhaul announced, removing trading tokens entirely in favour of shinedust

The development team has made a sudden and impactful announcement regarding trading in Pokemon TCG Pocket, which will go into effect by the end of Autumn 2025. This includes the complete removal of trading tokens, shine dust taking its place as the trading currency, the ability to select cards you want to trade for, and more.

This announcement, published via a lengthy image on official platforms including the Pokemon TCG Pocket Twitter, kicks off by thanking players for their feedback on the trading system. It then continues to the changes themselves, noting that the team hopes these will make the feature more “accessible and enjoyable”.

The complete list of changes to trading are:

• Trade tokens will be completely removed and players will no longer need to exchange cards to obtain the currency required for trading.
• Instead, trading cards of three-diamond, four-diamond, and one-star rarity will now require shinedust.
• When you open a booster pack, shinedust will be automatically earned if you obtain a card that is already registered in your Card Dex. Currently, shinedust is also required to obtain flair, so we are looking into increasing the amount 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.
• Trade tokens you currently own can be converted to shinedust when the item is removed from the game.
• There are no changes in how one-diamond and two-diamond rarity cards are traded.

In addition, there’s the in-development feature mentioned above, explained by the team as such:

• A feature will be added that allows you to share cards you’re interested in trading for via the in-game trading function.

The trading feature was added to the game earlier this year, and was immediately recieved with a mix of disappointment and eagerness from the community. The problems stemmed from two major issues: the trading currency limiting how much trading a player can do, as well as the rarity limit on cards tradable. Now, these changes address the first issue (everyone has loads of shine dust), whereas that second complaint will remain. Though, it’s worth noting, that the team has expressed that these limits to what is tradable may change as more packs are added. An understandable approach if one’s goal is to nip any rare trading ecosystems from growing.

That ability to list cards you want to trade for is a nice touch too. Personally speaking, I’ve wanted a second victreebel for some time, but obviously haven’t wanted to blow packs on old sets due to all the shiny new cards that came with Triumphant Light. This, one hopes, will help those looking for one-or-two specific cards without having to venture to various trading Discords or other community hubs.

What do you think of this change? Let us know below!