Fans of Pokémon TCG Pocket were treated to a full breakdown of the new trading system that will be replacing the trade functionality that has been in the game since late January 2025.

In the previous iteration, trading could get a bit complicated as it involved Trade Tokens and Trade Stamina. Since there is no communication within Pokémon TCG Pocket, it was hard to convey what you wanted in exchange. Long story short, the past six months have been a bit of a mess for those trying to complete their sets. But that’s all about to change.

The Pokémon Company detailed the new system in a News post within the game and on the official community forum, and it’s leaps and bounds better than what we’ve been working with prior.

What’s new with the Pokémon TCG Pocket trading functionality?

A Wishlist Feature is the first thing to mention. Previously, if you wanted to trade, you had to know what the other person wanted separately (or guess). Now, you can set a Wishlist and add up to 20 cards to it that you’re currently looking for, straight from your My Cards screen. Since there is no direct communication between players, you’ll be able to select three of them to display on your profile to let people know what you want.

Pokémon TCG Pocket is also removing Trade Tokens altogether, as it was an unnecessary additional currency. The Shinedust you earn from various tasks, events, and packs is now going to be the primary in-game currency for trading 3-diamond, 4-diamond, and 1-star rarity cards.

When obtaining a card you already own, you even get a bonus to the Shinedust granted, increasing it to double the current amount. Also, trading no longer requires a card sacrifice at all. All is right in the world.

For those who have a ton of Trade Tokens in Pokémon TCG Pocket, you’re also in luck with some cool bonus potential. There will be a special Exchange section in the shop that will let you trade in your now-useless Trade Tokens, which the developers have detailed. And yes, there are up to 60 pack hourglasses up for grabs.

  • Pack hourglass ×1
    • Required amount: Trade token ×1
    • Number of possible exchanges: 60
  • Shinedust ×10
    • Required amount: Trade token ×1
    • Number of possible exchanges: Unlimited
  • Shinedust ×100
    • Required amount: Trade token ×10
    • Number of possible exchanges: Unlimited
  • Shinedust ×1,000
    • Required amount: Trade token ×100
    • Number of possible exchanges: Unlimited

When will the new Pokémon TCG Pocket trade system be available?

The new trade functionality has a couple of possible answers to when it’ll be available. According to the News post within the Pokémon TCG Pocket game itself, it’ll be on July 28th at 9 PM. They note that the time may be different depending on your device, but they never explain what timezone they mean in the game and it seems todiffer from other official sources.

For instance, the official post to the community hub and the official post from the X/Twitter account explained the same things as the News post, but set the date as Tuesday, July 29th at 11 PM PDT (or 2 AM EST on July 30th, as that’s considered the new day, in-game).

In any case, the community post also detailed that the trade functionality will be down altogether from Thursday, July 24, 2025, at 11 PM PDT to Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 10:59 PM PDT, likely to do maintenance prior to the update. They also noted that “players will no longer be able to trade cards they have for trade tokens after Tuesday, July 29, at 6 PM PDT, following completion of the in-game update.”

Now, if only I could do something about the 74 Trade Hourglasses that will never be used! Check out our news on the Pokémon Presents for July 22nd, which will likely talk about this upcoming change as well!