If you’ve spent any time in Rocket League lobbies over the last few years, you’ve probably seen dozens of chat messages from players looking to swap rare decals, limited-edition wheels, and painted goal explosions for other coveted items. Trading was once one of the most popular social features in the game, letting players customize their rides without spending extra cash on the item shop. I’ve been playing Rocket League since its 2015 launch, and I traded hundreds of items myself before the feature was removed, including a rare Titanium White Octane decal I swapped for a pair of Fire God wheels back in 2021, still one of my favorite gaming memories. If you’re asking will trading come back to Rocket League, you’re far from alone – thousands of players sign petitions and ask Psyonix for updates on the feature every single month. I’ve pulled together every official update, verified leak, and community update to answer this question fully, no hype or fake rumors included.
Will Trading Come Back to Rocket League? What Psyonix Has Said Officially
First, let’s get the most important detail out of the way upfront. Psyonix has not officially reversed its decision to remove trading as of the latest 2024 game updates. When the feature was pulled in December 2023, the studio released a public blog post calling the change “permanent” to align Rocket League with Epic Games’ broader cross-game item policies. That didn’t stop the massive player backlash, though, with a petition asking for trading to be reinstated gathering more than 120,000 signatures in its first two weeks.
But there have been small, promising hints in the months since. In a Q&A with Rocket League esports hosts earlier this year, a senior Psyonix dev said the team “haven’t ruled out limited trading options for long-time players” after seeing the overwhelming feedback from the community. The dev also clarified that any future trading system would have stricter anti-scam protections than the old one, to avoid the issues that plagued the original feature.
Many data miners have found leftover code for trading in recent game updates, which is why rumors of an imminent return keep spreading across Reddit and Discord. That code doesn’t mean a launch is confirmed, though. It just means the team is testing possible iterations of the feature behind the scenes, and hasn’t completely scrapped the idea of bringing it back in some form. If an official announcement is coming, it will likely drop right before a new season launch, as that’s when Psyonix rolls out most of its big feature updates.
Why Rocket League Trading Was Removed in the First Place
To understand the odds of trading coming back, it helps to know exactly why Psyonix removed it in the first place. The decision wasn’t made out of nowhere – the studio had been dealing with problems tied to the trading system for years before pulling the plug. I personally know three players who got scammed out of hundreds of dollars worth of rare items before trading was removed, so I get why the team made the call even if I don’t fully agree with it.
Psyonix cited three core official reasons for removing trading, all backed up by internal player data:
Scamming was so widespread that many new players quit the game entirely after losing their first limited-edition item to a fake trade, according to Psyonix’s internal player retention data. The old trading system had almost no protections, so if you accepted a fake trade by accident, there was no way to get your item back, even if you filed a support ticket. That created a terrible experience for casual players who didn’t know how to spot common scams.
What Rumors About Trading Returning Are Actually Credible?
Since trading was removed, there have been dozens of viral rumors floating around social media claiming the feature is coming back next month, or next season, or even next week. Most of these are completely fake, designed to get clicks or drive traffic to scam sites. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not if you don’t follow Rocket League news closely, so I’ve broken down which rumors are worth paying attention to and which you can ignore.
The most credible rumor right now comes from a leaker who accurately predicted the Rocket League x Fortnite crossover six months before it launched, and has a track record of 90% accurate Rocket League leaks dating back to 2022. Earlier this year, they shared that Psyonix is testing a “friends-only trading” system that would only let you swap items with people on your Epic friends list that you’ve been connected with for at least 72 hours. This system would eliminate public trade scams entirely, and would only apply to items earned before the original trading system was removed, so new items from recent Rocket Passes and item shop drops would still be untradeable.
Other common rumors, like trading coming back exclusively for premium Rocket Pass users, or only for esports ticket holders, have no credible sources backing them up. You also might see links to sites claiming they can unlock trading for your account if you log in with your Epic credentials. You should never trust third-party sites claiming they can restore trading access for your account, as these are almost always phishing scams designed to steal your account and in-game items. The only place you’ll get official updates about trading is from Psyonix’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, blog, or in-game announcement board.
I’ve seen dozens of fake announcements posted in Rocket League Discord servers over the last year, so my rule of thumb is simple: if the news isn’t coming directly from Psyonix, don’t get your hopes up. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing a viral screenshot of a fake announcement that gets your hopes up, only to find out it was edited by a random user to get likes.
What You Can Do Right Now If You Want Trading Back
Psyonix has repeatedly said they’re listening to player feedback about trading, so there are steps you can take right now to push for the feature to return, without annoying the dev team or getting yourself in trouble. The worst thing you can do is spam devs’ personal social media accounts with angry messages – that just makes the team less likely to engage with the community about the issue.
First, leave feedback on the official Rocket League feedback portal, which the dev team reads every week. The most effective feedback is specific, so mention exactly how trading added to your enjoyment of the game instead of just demanding it come back. For example, you could talk about how you used to trade duplicate Rocket Pass items with your little sibling so they could get their favorite wheel skins, or how trading let you connect with other players in lobbies after matches. Specific feedback carries way more weight than generic complaints.
You can also sign the official community petition asking for trading to be reinstated, which is sent to Psyonix’s leadership team every month with new signatures. Just make sure you don’t donate to the petition – Change.org takes all donations, and none of that money goes to supporting the Rocket League community or pushing for trading to come back.
If you want to trade items safely right now, you can use the official in-game gifting system, which lets you send items to friends you’ve been connected with for at least 48 hours. You can’t get items back in return, so it’s not a replacement for trading, but it’s a good way to give duplicate items to friends you trust without the risk of scams. You can also join community-run trading discords where players swap items using trusted middlemen, but you still run the risk of getting scammed if you don’t verify the middleman’s reputation first.
At the end of the day, no one can say for sure when or if we’ll see the full trading system return to Rocket League. Psyonix is clearly listening to player feedback, and the leftover code in recent updates suggests they’re at least testing possible iterations of the feature for future release. Even if you’re asking will trading come back to Rocket League every time you log on and see your collection of rare untradeable items, it’s worth being patient and sharing constructive feedback with the dev team while you wait. For now, you can still show off your rare items in lobbies, swap gifts with close friends, and keep an eye on official Psyonix channels for any surprise announcements down the line.
