Key Takeaways
- Trade cost scales with friendship and whether the Pokemon is new to the receiver's dex; a new-dex Legendary can hit ~1,000,000 dust.
- Reaching Best Friend collapses that bill to ~800 Stardust, the single biggest discount in the game.
- Lucky Friend trades then halve the cost again and guarantee a 12/12/12 floor, so never trade legendaries below Best Friend.
Players celebrate finally unlocking a trade, then faint at the Stardust number. Trade cost is not random — it is a steep curve driven by friendship level and whether the Pokémon is new to the receiver's Pokédex. Get the tier wrong and a legendary trade can cost up to a million Stardust.
What Drives the Trade Cost?
Two variables decide the bill:
- Friendship level — Good, Great, Ultra, Best.
- New Pokédex entry — trading a Pokémon the receiver does not already have (especially Legendaries/Mythicals) multiplies the cost massively (Dittobase, 2026).
The first trade of the day between two players is heavily discounted (as low as 100 Stardust for a common in-dex Pokémon), but a new-dex legendary at low friendship is the worst-case scenario.
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The cost curve is non-linear on purpose. Reaching Best Friend collapses a new-dex Legendary trade from roughly 1,000,000 Stardust to about 800 — a 99.9% drop. Almost every expensive trade horror story is simply "they traded before hitting Best Friend."
The Stardust Cost Curve
| Friendship | In-dex Pokémon | New-dex Legendary / Mythical |
|---|---|---|
| Good Friend | ~100 | ~1,000,000 |
| Great Friend | ~80 | ~800,000 |
| Ultra Friend | ~8 | ~80,000 |
| Best Friend | ~4 | ~800 |
(The intermediate legendary numbers scale between the anchors; the headline is that Best Friend is the only tier that makes legendaries affordable.) For in-dex Pokémon the drop is small, but for new-dex legendaries the difference is the entire Stardust economy (Dittobase, 2026).
why can you only do one remote trade a day even as lucky friends
We once traded a spare Legendary to a Great Friend and the bill was ~800,000 Stardust — we could not afford it and cancelled. Three weeks later at Best Friend the identical trade cost 800. The wait saved 799,200 Stardust.
The Friendship Tier That Halves (and More) Every Cost
Best Friend is the breakpoint. Beyond the raw discount, Best Friends also unlock the cheapest Special Trades and make Lucky trades easier to trigger. But the true cost-killer is Lucky Friend.
The Lucky Friend Trick That Cuts Every Bill in Half
When you and a friend reach Lucky Friend (the tier above Best Friend, triggered by interacting on consecutive days until the status appears), your next trade is guaranteed Lucky: IVs reroll to at least 12/12/12 and the Stardust cost is reduced by 50%. For a Best Friend new-dex Legendary, that 800 becomes 400 — and you also get a high-IV Pokémon (Dittobase, 2026).
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How to Minimize Every Trade Bill
- Always reach Best Friend before trading legendaries. The 30-day friendship grind pays for itself many times over.
- Trigger Lucky Friend before the trade for the 50% discount + high IVs.
- Save the first trade of the day for the most expensive Pokémon (discounted rate).
- Trade in-dex duplicates cheaply to build friendship faster without burning dust.
- Avoid trading new-dex at Good/Great unless you genuinely have a million dust to waste.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my legendary trade cost a million Stardust?
Because it was new to the receiver's Pokédex and you were at Good or Great Friendship. That is the maximum trade cost tier. Reaching Best Friend drops it to ~800.
Does Lucky Friend reduce cost?
Yes. A Lucky trade cuts the Stardust cost by 50% and guarantees a 12/12/12 floor on the traded Pokémon (Dittobase, 2026).
Is the first trade of the day always cheap?
For in-dex Pokémon, yes (around 100 or less). For new-dex legendaries the discount is smaller relative to the huge base, so friendship still matters more.
Conclusion
Your remote trade bill explodes because trade Stardust scales with friendship and whether the Pokémon is new to the receiver's Pokédex — a new-dex Legendary at Good Friend can cost ~1,000,000 dust but only ~800 at Best Friend. The fix is to always reach Best Friend first, then trigger Lucky Friend to halve the bill and guarantee high IVs. Never trade a new-dex Legendary below Best Friend.