You’ve spent weeks hunting. Maybe months. You finally caught that perfect Machop, and now you’re staring at the "Evolve" button, calculating exactly how many Pinap Berries it’ll take to hit that 100-candy milestone for the final stage. Stop. Just stop for a second. If you’re manually grinding out candy for a Gengar or a Gigalith, you’re basically throwing your time away because you didn't use the pokemon go evolve by trading mechanic. It’s one of those features that Niantic tucked away years ago, and honestly, a lot of players—even the ones who have been playing since 2016—forget just how much it changes the math of the game.
The Massive Candy Discount Nobody Talks About
Let’s be real: 100 candy is a lot. For a casual player, that represents dozens of catches. But for a specific group of Pokémon, that evolution cost literally drops to zero if that Pokémon was received in a trade. Zero. You go from needing a mountain of resources to needing nothing but a friend and a bit of Stardust.
The list isn't huge, but the Pokémon on it are heavy hitters. We’re talking about Kadabra, Machoke, Graveler, and Haunter from the Kanto region. Then you’ve got the Gen 5 crowd like Boldore, Gurdurr, Karrablast, and Shelmet. If you trade a Machoke to a buddy, and they trade one back to you (well, technically you can't trade the same one back, but we’ll get to that), that Machoke can become a Machamp for $0$ candy. It’s a loophole that feels like cheating, but it’s 100% baked into the code.
Why You Can’t Just "Trade Back" Your Favorites
Here is where people get burned. I’ve seen it happen at community days. Someone trades their shiny, high-IV Haunter to a friend, expecting to get it right back so they can evolve it into a Gengar for free. Then the realization hits. In Pokémon GO, trades are a one-way street. Once a Pokémon is traded, it can never be traded again.
This is Niantic’s way of preventing people from infinitely rerolling stats until they get a hundo. It’s a bummer, sure. It means if you have a 100% IV Machoke, you have a choice to make: do you spend the 100 candy to keep those perfect stats, or do you trade it away to save the candy but lose the Pokémon forever? Most high-level players will tell you to keep the hundo and grind the candy. But if you're just looking for a functional attacker for raids, the pokemon go evolve by trading strategy is the only way to go.
The Secret "Mirror Trade" Strategy
If you want to maximize this, you need to do what’s called a "Mirror Trade." You find someone who also has a Gurdurr. You trade yours for theirs. Since both of you are receiving a traded Pokémon, both of you now have a Conkeldurr-ready monster that costs nothing to evolve.
- PVP Relevance: Trading actually reshuffles IVs. This is huge for Great League and Ultra League. Usually, you want low Attack and high Defense/Stamina for those brackets. Trading a Pokémon often lowers the Attack stat, making it better for PVP than the one you caught in the wild.
- Luck is Key: If you’re Best Friends with someone, you have a chance of a Lucky Trade. A Lucky Pokémon not only has a floor of 12/12/12 stats but also costs 50% less Stardust to power up. A Lucky Trade combined with the trade evolution discount is the "holy grail" of resource management.
Every Pokémon Eligible for Free Evolution
It’s not just the classics. While we started with the Kanto four, the list has expanded over the years. You need to keep an eye out for these specific species because catching them is essentially catching a "free" final evolution if you have a local trade partner.
The Kanto Group
Kadabra, Machoke, Graveler (both Kanto and Alolan versions), and Haunter. These are staples in the meta. Machamp remains one of the best fighting types for taking down gyms and Tyranitar raids.
The Unova/Kalos Additions
Boldore and Gurdurr are the big ones here. Gigalith and Conkeldurr are expensive to evolve normally (200 candy total from the base form). Karrablast and Shelmet are unique because in the main series games, they had to be traded for each other. In Pokémon GO, you can trade them for anything, and the discount still applies. More recently, Phantump and Pumpkaboo joined the club. Trevenant is a monster in the GO Battle League, so getting a free evolution on a Phantump is a massive shortcut to competitive play.
The Stardust Cost: The Only Catch
Nothing is truly free. While the candy cost for the evolution disappears, the trade itself costs Stardust. If you’re trading a regular Pokémon you both already have in your Pokédex, it’s cheap—usually around 100 Stardust. But if you’re trying to trade a Shiny or a Legendary to trigger an evolution (not that Legendaries have trade evolutions yet, but stay with me), the cost skyrockets.
For most pokemon go evolve by trading scenarios, you’re looking at a negligible Stardust cost. Just make sure you aren't doing special trades daily if you're low on dust. I’ve met players who blew 20,000 Stardust trading for a Pokémon they could have just caught in the park five minutes later. Be smart.
Distance Matters More Than You Think
In 2026, the way we look at candy XL has changed the trading game entirely. If you trade a Pokémon that was caught more than 100km away from where your friend caught theirs, you are guaranteed a Candy XL.
This creates a "double dip" scenario. Imagine you went on vacation and caught a bunch of Phantump. You come home and trade them to a local friend. You get a guaranteed Candy XL for the distance, and your friend gets a Trevenant that costs zero candy to evolve. It is the most efficient way to play the game, period. If you’re deleted your "distance" catches without trading them, you’re playing on hard mode for no reason.
Is It Better to Wait for an Event?
Sometimes. Niantic loves "Trade Evolution" events where they might decrease the trade cost or give extra bonuses for evolving. However, the 0-candy cost for these specific Pokémon is a permanent feature. It’s not a temporary buff. You don't need to wait for a Tuesday Spotlight Hour to get your free Machamp.
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The only reason to wait is if you’re hunting for a specific move. If Gengar needs Lick or Psychic to be viable in the current meta and those are "legacy moves," you might want to hold off on evolving until an event that allows those moves to be learned upon evolution. Otherwise, pull the trigger.
Real World Example: The Gurdurr Grind
I remember trying to get a Conkeldurr when Gen 5 first dropped. I was walking my Gurdurr for miles. Then I realized I could just go to a local Discord meetup, find someone with a spare Gurdurr, and swap.
We did the trade. My new Gurdurr had better stats than my old one. I hit the evolve button, and boom—a 3000+ CP Conkeldurr without spending a single Timburr candy. I saved 100 candies that I then used to power that Conkeldurr up to Level 40. That's the real "pro tip." Don't use candy to evolve; use the trade mechanic to evolve, and save your candy to push the CP past the limit.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that the Pokémon has to be traded as the middle stage. It doesn't. If you trade a Machop, and then your friend evolves that Machop into a Machoke, the "discount" still applies for the final evolution into Machamp. The game tracks the "Traded" status of the Pokémon forever.
Another thing: IVs change. I can't stress this enough. Don't trade your 98% IV Gurdurr unless you are prepared for it to become a 40% IV Gurdurr. Trading is a gamble. It's a way to turn "bad" Pokémon into "good" ones, not necessarily to make "great" Pokémon "perfect."
Practical Steps for Your Next Session
If you want to actually use this information, don't just read it. Do this next time you open the app:
- Tag your trade bait: Create a tag in your storage called "Trade Evolve." Every time you catch a Machop, Gastly, or Roggenrola with mediocre stats, throw it in that tag.
- Find a local partner: Pokémon GO still requires you to be within 100 meters to trade. You can't do this over the internet unless there's a special global event (which is rare).
- Prioritize the "Expensive" ones: Focus on Gurdurr and Boldore. Their 200-candy evolution requirement is brutal compared to the 100-candy cost of the Kanto starters.
- Check for "Trade Evolution" filter: You can actually type "evolve_new_term" or "tradeevolve" into your search bar to see which of your current Pokémon are eligible for this.
The pokemon go evolve by trading system is essentially a rewards program for being social. It’s one of the few parts of the game that hasn't been monetized into oblivion. Use it to fill your Pokédex, use it to build a raid team on a budget, and definitely use it to clear out that storage space while getting something in return. Stop hoarding those Machokes. Swap 'em and get your Machamps.