Bongo Cat Exchange, Trading and Market Rules
Scope: Exchange and trading rules from the developer's announcements, March 2025 to September 2026
Key points
- Ten items of the same rarity exchange into one item of the next tier up; favourites are never slotted automatically.
- Shift+Click a stack to run 1,000+ exchanges back to back, and use the Trader, Vendor and Merchant achievements as a side goal.
- Trading with friends was switched off in March 2025 to stop bot farms and switched back on for all items in November 2025.
- Chest and event drops can be sold on the Steam Community Market; Item Store supporter items cannot.
In Bongo Cat, the exchange turns ten items of one rarity into one item of the next rarity up, and it is the main way to reach Rare, Epic and Legendary. Drops can be traded with friends and sold on the Steam Community Market; Item Store supporter items cannot. Here is each rule and when it changed.
How does the exchange work?
The rule has been the same since the pre-launch demo: "10 items of the same rarity can be upgraded to one of a higher tier" (demo update). Later updates made it faster:
- Open the exchange from your cat's menu.
- The game auto-slots all your duplicates and shows an indicator when you have enough of one tier (March 2025).
- Items marked as favourites are ignored by the auto exchange (April 2025).
- To run many exchanges at once, Shift+Click a stack; the developer says this handles "1000+ items back to back" (May 2025).
- Items you put in the exchange are greyed out rather than removed from the list (June 2026).
Ten Commons make one Uncommon, so on paper one Epic costs 1,000 Commons' worth of exchanges. Seen from the market side, an Epic listed for sale represents a thousand Common drops' worth of exchanges, or a very lucky chest, so do not expect Epic and Legendary prices to sit near Common ones.
Which exchange rules catch people out?
| Rule | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Only duplicates should go in | A May 2025 bug traded in all items, not just duplicates, if you exchanged quickly after getting a duplicate; fixed on May 9, 2025 | Fix notes |
| Emojis have their own exchange | Emojis trade up only into other emojis, since October 2025 | Autumn update |
| Event odds are not higher overall | In the 2025 autumn event, an Uncommon drop was more likely to be an event item, but "we didn't adjust the overall drop chances" | Same post |
| Deleting is permanent | The delete option in settings removes items for good | August 2025 |
Exchanging also counts towards three achievements: Trader (1 exchange), Vendor (10) and Merchant (100). Their unlock rates are on the achievements page.
Can you trade Bongo Cat items with friends?
Yes, as of the latest rule change. Trading has flipped twice, so older forum answers may be wrong:
| Date | Rule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 2025 | Items tradeable on the Market and between friends | Full launch |
| Mar 11, 2025 | Trading between two users removed; "NOT THE MARKET, THIS STILL WORKS" | Bot accounts farming thousands of items and selling in bulk (notes) |
| Nov 10, 2025 | "Re-enable all items for trading with friends!" | Charity event post |
| Sep 1, 2026 | Paw Pass tickets can be gifted to friends through Steam trading | Paw Pass post |
Items from the demo were never tradeable and did not carry over to the full game.
Can you sell hats on the Steam Community Market?
Yes for items that drop, no for items bought from the Item Store. The developer made the store items "non marketable (never intended to do so)" in May 2025 (notes). Everything else goes through the normal Community Market for Bongo Cat, which listed 540 different Bongo Cat items for sale when we checked on September 29, 2026.
Prices there are set by players and swing a lot, so this page does not quote them. If you are chasing one specific Legendary, compare the market price against how many Epics you would need to exchange; if it is limited, check the event timeline to see whether it can still drop at all. The full list of item sources is in hats and skins.
Sources
The mechanics and numbers in this guide come from the material below. Open the original pages to check them yourself.
- S001 demo update store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S002 March 2025 store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S003 April 2025 store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S004 May 2025 store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S005 Fix notes store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S006 Autumn update store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S007 Full launch store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S008 notes store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S009 Charity event post store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S010 notes store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S011 Community Market for Bongo Cat steamcommunity.com Accessed
- S012 August 2025 store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S013 Paw Pass post store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S014 June 2026 store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S015 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
Related guides
Bongo Cat Hats and Skins: Rarity and Sources
Bongo Cat hats and skins: official drop rates per rarity, the new Unique tier, every way items reach your inventory, and the supporter packs.
All 28 Bongo Cat Achievements and Unlock Rates
All 28 Bongo Cat Steam achievements with the exact requirement text and global unlock rates, grouped by taps, items, emojis, lobbies and exchanges.
Bongo Cat Events and Paw Pass: Full Timeline
Bongo Cat seasonal and charity events from April 2025 to the Circus Paw Pass, with dates, what each gave away, and how the free and premium Paw Pass work.
