The choice between ICO and trading will depend on on the person involved and their preferences, trading gives you a chance to earn from proven coins or tokens in the market and Mostly depend on the timing and th quality of the coins, buy when he market is low and sell when high, ICO on the other hand is more of a risk taking, were if all goes right you stand a chance t earn quite a lot on your investment and when it gets wrong you lose. Im a risk taker and most of the times invest in ICOs.
I think more and more have the information in the trade would understand the conditions and what steps should be taken when there are things going on. process analysis is very important before deciding. For me trading is much convenient to do than ico.