Ico's can be very profitable from my knowledge, but recently I've seen ico's trade for less than what people bought it for... so in my opinion, ICO's are risky business. BUT they can be very profitable if they "take off" 
As for trading you can always look at history and base your trading on that. If something is down 80% then you know that there is potential to have 80% up again to new all time high. But that is risky too
so you pretty much need to find your own way
Trading is the one to earn immediately and it need you all of your time to do it while ICO its need here is your patience because you need to wait a year before you can get your profit. Both in terms of profit joining ICO is much profitable but when your in a good ICO, also both of them have risk to take but the higher risk is in the ICO. As for trading you can always look at history and base your trading on that. If something is down 80% then you know that there is potential to have 80% up again to new all time high. But that is risky too
so you pretty much need to find your own way