All five Red Dead Online roles — Trader, Moonshiner, Collector, Bounty Hunter and Naturalist: what they cost in gold, who sells them, what the key ranks unlock, what a delivery, batch or set pays, what the Prestigious Bounty Hunter License adds, which role to buy first and where roles stand in 2026.
Contents
- Every Red Dead Online role in one table
- How ranks and tokens work
- Trader: wagon deliveries and the road to Moonshiner
- Moonshiner: moonshine and the closest thing to passive income
- Collector: sets for Madam Nazar
- Bounty Hunter: wanted criminals and gold
- Prestigious Bounty Hunter: ranks 21–30
- Naturalist: samples for Harriet or pelts for Gus
- Which Red Dead Online role to buy first
- Red Dead Online roles in 2026
- Where guides disagree
- Red Dead Online roles: FAQ
Every Red Dead Online role in one table
Roles are Red Dead Online specialist careers with their own tasks, ranks and income. The first three — Bounty Hunter, Trader and Collector — arrived on September 10, 2019, in the Frontier Pursuits update. Moonshiner followed on December 13, 2019, and Naturalist in July 2020.
| Role | Price | Seller / where | Requirement | What you do | Solo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trader | 15 gold bars | Butcher’s Table; starts with a letter from Cripps | None | Hand in carcasses and pelts, Cripps makes goods, you deliver them by wagon | Yes; long-distance deliveries can be attacked by players |
| Collector | 15 gold bars | Collector’s Bag from Madam Nazar (her camp moves every day) | None | Find collectibles and sell sets | The most solo-friendly |
| Bounty Hunter | 15 gold bars | Bounty Hunter License; first in Rhodes, later at any Bounty Board | None | Bring in wanted criminals, including legendary ones | Yes; some legendary bounties need a posse |
| Moonshiner | 25 gold bars | Moonshine Shack, partner Maggie Fike | Trader role and early progress in it | Brew and deliver moonshine | Yes, passively; Bootlegger missions are hard solo |
| Naturalist | 25 gold bars | Sample Kit from Harriet Davenport, Welcome Center in Strawberry | None | Sedate animals and take samples | Yes, but it is hands-on |
How fresh this data is. Rockstar does not publish a separate page with role prices. Prices and payouts here come from rdr2.org, GTABase, TheGamer, GamersDecide and Shacknews guides written in 2019–2023 (the rdr2.org Moonshiner guide was updated in 2026). Rockstar has not changed role prices, but check in-game: events often bring discounts. None of these guides calculate money per hour, so below you get only per-delivery, per-batch and per-set payouts and the time they take.
How ranks and tokens work
Each role has 20 ranks split into four tiers of five: Novice, Promising, Established and Distinguished. Ranks grow with Role XP, and each new rank gives Role Tokens, usually two. Role items are bought with tokens plus RDO$ or gold.
Gold comes as bars and nuggets: 100 nuggets make one bar. How to earn it — in our guide on how to make money in Red Dead Online.
Trader: wagon deliveries and the road to Moonshiner
Getting started. According to rdr2.org, the role begins with a letter from Cripps at the post office: you meet him and buy the Butcher’s Table for 15 gold bars.
| Rank | Unlock | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Medium Wagon for $500, 50 goods | $200 local / $250 distant |
| 10 | Large Wagon (after the medium one, $750 per GamersDecide), 100 goods | $500 local / $625–650 distant |
| 10 | Hunting Wagon for $875 and 2 tokens — carries several carcasses | — |
| 11 | Efficiency — more materials | — |
Ranks and wagon payouts are per rdr2.org.
Time. According to Shacknews (2019), filling the table to 100 units takes 3–4 hours of play. Per rdr2.org, fish give no materials, a perfect carcass gives more, and a whole carcass gives more than its skinned pelt.
Long-distance deliveries can be attacked by other players. The main reason to buy Trader first: without it you cannot unlock Moonshiner.
Moonshiner: moonshine and the closest thing to passive income
Requirement. You need the Trader role and early progress in it: rank 5 or a first delivery. According to guides, this step can be skipped for 5 gold bars in the progression menu. Cripps then introduces you to Maggie Fike near Emerald Ranch, and you buy the Moonshine Shack for 25 gold bars. Together with the Butcher’s Table that is 40 gold bars without discounts.
Brewing. A batch takes 30, 45 or 60 minutes depending on the recipe. Per rdr2.org, from rank 15 (Master Distiller) it is 24, 36 and 48 minutes, and there are five shacks in fixed locations.
| Upgrade | Price | Payout per batch |
|---|---|---|
| No upgrades | — | about $70–90 |
| Condenser (ranks 6–10) | $825 | about $140–150 |
| Polished Copper (ranks 11–15) | $875 | about $220–250 |
| Bar Expansion (ranks 1–5) | $950 | adds no money |
| Band Expansion | $850 | — |
Bootlegger missions with roadblocks are tough solo, and deliveries need careful driving: bottles break. TheGamer (2023) and GamersDecide (2020) both rank Moonshiner first precisely for its near-passive income.
Collector: sets for Madam Nazar
Getting started. Madam Nazar, a traveling dealer whose camp is in a different spot every day, sells the Collector’s Bag for 15 gold bars. She pays more for a full set than for single items.
| Rank | Unlock |
|---|---|
| 3 | Divination |
| 5 | Pennington Field Shovel ($350 + a token), Refined Binoculars, Aguila Machete |
| 6–10 | Metal Detector for $700 plus tokens (guides do not give the exact rank) |
| 12 | Equine Assistance |
| 16 | Valuables Satchel |
Ranks per rdr2.org; Metal Detector per GTABase and GamersDecide.
Payouts per set (per rdr2.org): coins, 15 pieces, $540; rings $378; earrings $364.50; arrowheads $289; flowers $155.50. GamersDecide gives a range of $75–540 per set. Sets can be sent by mail, so the role works well solo.
Bounty Hunter: wanted criminals and gold
Getting started. The Bounty Hunter License costs 15 gold bars and is first bought in Rhodes; later any Bounty Board sells it. Besides regular targets there are legendary bounties — more than ten of them.
| Rank | Unlock |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reinforced Lasso — 1 token and $350 at the gunsmith (rdr2.org) |
| 3 | Focus — targets glow in Eagle Eye |
| 4 | Bounty Hunter free roam events |
| 12 | Hunting players who have a bounty on their head |
| 20 | Dual Spin |
Payouts (per rdr2.org): a regular target brought in alive pays about $30, rising slightly with time spent, up to roughly 30 minutes; a 1-star legendary target pays $100–150. A live criminal pays more than a dead one and gives more Role XP: 210 versus 90. The Bounty Wagon, which targets cannot escape from, costs $875 (GamersDecide).
Opinions differ: rdr2.org calls Bounty Hunter the least profitable role, while TheGamer calls it the best for gold. You can play it solo, but some legendary bounties require a posse.
Prestigious Bounty Hunter: ranks 21–30
Bounty Hunter is the only role that continues past rank 20. On December 1, 2020, together with the launch of the standalone Red Dead Online client, the Bounty Hunters Expansion added the Prestigious Bounty Hunter License.
- Price: another 15 gold bars on top of the regular license.
- Sold at any Bounty Board.
- Adds 10 ranks, 21 through 30, and does not replace the regular license.
- Rewards include: rank 22 — the Bounty Hunter Opportunities letter, 24 — Provisions Satchel, 30 — The Thorogood outfit.
There are no prestigious versions of Trader, Collector, Moonshiner or Naturalist: neither Rockstar nor the press has reported any.
Naturalist: samples for Harriet or pelts for Gus
Getting started. Harriet Davenport sells the Sample Kit for 25 gold bars at the Welcome Center in Strawberry, where you also get a cutscene with Gus Macmillan. You sedate animals with sedative ammo and take samples for Harriet. The alternative is “poaching”: pelts for Gus, who turns legendary animals into clothing. According to TheGamer, if you kill animals, Harriet refuses to trade with you for a while.
| Rank | Unlock |
|---|---|
| 5 | Legendary Eagle Eye |
| 6 | Mercy |
| 6–10 | Wilderness Camp for $750 and 2 tokens |
| 10 | Animal Focus |
| 15 | Animal Attraction |
| 16 | Master Tracker |
Ranks per GTABase. It also says the Field Guide lists 76 regular species in six categories. TheGamer ranks Naturalist last, fifth: an expensive entry, hands-on play and penalties from Harriet.
Which Red Dead Online role to buy first
There is no official ranking, and guides do not agree on everything. The most common order:
- Trader (15 bars) — steady deliveries and access to Moonshiner.
- Moonshiner (25) if you want near-passive income, or Collector (15) if you play solo and like exploring the map.
- Bounty Hunter (15) — for gold and gunfights.
- Naturalist (25) — last.
This is a synthesis of advice, not a rule. TheGamer (2023) ranks the roles Moonshiner, Bounty Hunter, Trader, Collector, Naturalist. GamersDecide (2020): Moonshiner, Bounty Hunter, Collector, Trader. Both put Moonshiner first, but you cannot buy it without Trader.
Also check the current event: in November 2026 Rockstar pays 3X on Trader sales, and the Butcher’s Table is 5 gold bars cheaper. This month’s bonuses are on the Red Dead Online update page.
Red Dead Online roles in 2026
On July 7, 2022, Rockstar wrote on Newswire that there would be no more major themed updates for Red Dead Online, as resources were moving to the next GTA. No new roles have been released since; the last one was Naturalist (2020). Blood Money (July 13, 2021) added contracts, not a role. The latest new content is four Telegram missions, Strange Tales of the West, released July 1, 2025.
Servers are running: in October 2026 the Rockstar service status page showed PS4 and Xbox One as “All services operational”, and no shutdown has been announced. Monthly events continue and bring role discounts and multipliers. The mode overview is on the Red Dead Online page.
Where guides disagree
| Topic | Versions | What we use |
|---|---|---|
| Moonshiner unlock condition | TheGamer: one of three (rank 5, a delivery or 5 bars); GTABase: rank 5 or a delivery; rdr2.org: rank 5 and a delivery | Trader plus early progress in it |
| Prestigious License price | 15 bars (Shacknews, GTABase, TheGamer and others); the wiki says 30 | 15; 30 is probably both licenses combined |
| Large wagon distant delivery | $625 (GTABase) / $650 (rdr2.org, GamersDecide) | $625–650 |
| Collector shovel | $350 (rdr2.org, GTABase, GamersDecide) / “almost $600” (TheGamer) | $350 |
| Moonshine batch | rdr2.org: $70–80 / 140–150 / 220–250; GamersDecide: ~90 / 150 / 240 | $70–90 → $140–150 → $220–250 |
The 2019 promotions with a free Butcher’s Table and a free Collector’s Bag ended long ago.
Red Dead Online roles: FAQ
Which role should I buy first in Red Dead Online?
Guides most often recommend Trader: 15 gold bars, steady deliveries and access to Moonshiner. If you play solo, take Collector second. There is no official role ranking.
How much does a role cost in Red Dead Online?
Trader, Collector and Bounty Hunter cost 15 gold bars each, Moonshiner and Naturalist 25 each. The Prestigious Bounty Hunter License is another 15 bars. These are prices without discounts, per guides; Rockstar cuts them during events.
How do I unlock Moonshiner?
First buy Trader and make early progress in it — rank 5 or a delivery (per guides, you can skip this for 5 bars). Cripps then introduces you to Maggie Fike, and you buy the Moonshine Shack for 25 gold bars.
Are there prestigious versions of other roles?
No. A Prestigious License with ranks 21–30 exists only for Bounty Hunter. Neither Rockstar nor the press has announced prestigious versions of Trader, Collector, Moonshiner or Naturalist.
What is the best Red Dead Online role for solo players?
Collector: you sell sets to Madam Nazar or send them by mail. Moonshiner also works solo, except for Bootlegger missions. Trader is fine solo, but long-distance deliveries are at risk from other players.
Will Red Dead Online get new roles?
Rockstar has not announced any: there have been no major updates since July 7, 2022, and the last new role was Naturalist in 2020. The game only gets monthly events.
Sources
- Official: Rockstar Games, Rockstar Newswire, Rockstar Support, Take-Two Interactive
- Databases and guides: Red Dead Wiki, RDR2.org, GTABase, PowerPyx
- Press: GamesRadar, PC Gamer, IGN, VGC, Game Informer
Every fact is checked against official sources or at least two independent ones; player-sourced data is labelled in the text. Images are official Rockstar Games material. GTA Top is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.