Systems and methods for active application of secondary transaction instrument tokens in transaction processing systems are provided. A transaction processing server receives a transaction request identifying a request to authorize a transaction using a first transaction instrument and a first token processing engine issues the transaction request with a first transactable token associated with the first transaction instrument for use by a first remote entity to authorize the first transaction instrument. The transaction processing server receives a transaction request failed message and actively routes a non-transactable token from the first token processing engine to a second token processing engine. The second token processing engine reissues the transaction request with a second transactable token associated with the second transaction instrument for use by a second remote entity to authorize the second transaction instrument and receives an indication that the transaction completed successfully using the second transactable token.