Before we start, I would like to point out that RDO is a grind. With the December update it's even worse for new players to earn Gold so be prepared.

After you reach rank 10, you will earn a treasure map every 5 ranks. Treasure maps can be used to find a small chest of gold nuggets, cash and some random loot. Every chest will give you different amount of Gold & Money.

To collect your treasure map, head to any post office (or camp) and collect it. After that hold B to access your satchel and head over to documents - there you will find the treasure map. Just inspect the map and a yellow icon will appear on your map.

When you arrive to that location simply use 'tracking mode' (Press CAPS but make sure you're not holding a firearm) and look for golden particles and listen closely for the wind chimes.

Example of a treasure chest loot:
Gold Nuggets: 0.50
Money: $179.84
Items: Snake Oil Tonic, Jewelry.
Here's a video showing you all the locations for your first treasure map:

These challenges can be anything from visiting a specific location on the map, to getting kills with specific weapons in PvP, to collecting a specific type of herb or killing a specific type of animal. Some are incredibly easy, while others can be a bit difficult (and once in a while, you’ll find one that feels impossible).

As a new player, you’ll have seven dailies available each day (they reset at 1am Central). Every one of these challenges pays 10 gold nuggets, or $0.10 in gold. Plus you get a 30-nugget bonus for completing all seven.

On top of that, completing dailies several days in a row will eventually add a multiplier. After 7 days you'll get a 1.5x bonus, after 14 days you'll get a 2x bonus, after 21 days you'll get a x2.5 bonus then after 28 days your challenges will reset and you'll earn $100 cash.

How much you can expect if you did every challenge for a month & the bonus gold for completing it(Doesn't include role challenges):

Week 1 - 7.0 gold bars
Week 2 - 9.45 gold bars
Week 3 - 10.90 gold bars
Week 4 - $100 Cash & Treasure Map

In total - 27.35 gold bars per month

If you bought a role for 15 gold bars and levelled it up, you will unlock daily challenges for that role. For example, a bounty hunter one would be to hogtie 3 bounties from horseback.

All daily challenges are pretty simple to complete and will take roughly an hour or three to complete if you're really going for it. To access your challenges, press L.

How to get started as a bounty hunter:

• Travel to Rhodes
  
• When you arrive, follow the yellow marker on the map
  
• Speak to the Sheriff
  
• Purchase the Bounty Hunter license from him for 15 gold

After getting a license, you will see a new marker appear in each town. This is for the bounty board, which, of course, provides you with different types of bounty missions - and different ways to make money and gain XP.

There are 4 different bounties right now, they are $ (Easy), $$ (Medium), $$$ (Difficult) & Legendary Bounties. You can unlock more difficult bounties by ranking up your BH role.

If you complete an easy bounty, you will receive roughly 600XP, $30 & 0.08 gold nuggets. RDO has a really awful system where you earn more by being really slow. For example, if you take 3 minutes to complete a bounty, you will receive 0.08 but if you complete it in 6 minutes, you will earn 0.16 gold nuggets.


All bounties follow the same format: Ride to destination > Kill or tie bounty > deliver them to jail. This does get really repetitive after a while but if you're really gold & money hungry then stick with it.

I know spending 15 gold on a rank just to receive 0.X nuggets in return per bounty but overtime you will get your money back and start to earn profit from your investment.

If you want a more In-Depth look into Bounty Hunters check this post out: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedDeadOnline/comments/e4mwj9/bounty_hunter_payouts_and_tips/

Moonshiner business is the best method to make easy money, in my opinion. Once you have everything set up & upgraded, you can earn well over $250 an hour - which in RDO is pretty decent money. To start this, you'll have to meet Maggie at Emerald Ranch.

How much it'll cost to start your business, purchase things & upgrade them:

Set up business: 25 Gold Bars (To change location it'll cost $250)
Bar Expansion: $950.00
Bar Decor: 15 Gold Bars (Optional - doesn't have any effect)
Condenser Upgrade: $825.00 + 2 Tokens (Level 5 Moonshiner required)
Polished Copper Upgrade: $875.00 + 3 Tokens (Level 10 Moonshiner required)

The total amount will cost you:
25 Gold bars & $2,650 (40 Gold bars with decor)

When you start up your business, you'll be given a few areas to set up your operation. I personally recommend the heartlands as the location is easy to access, fast travel down the road, many routes & it's very open.

Once you’ve bought the Condenser upgrade, you will be able to get Average Moonshine, which will get you more fortune than the Weak Moonshine does. If you sell Average moonshine you will earn roughly $100 per delivery, which is good to start off with.

Once you've bought the Polished Copper upgrade, Marcel will be able to make strong moonshine which is currently the best available. With strong moonshine you can add certain ingredients to it to make a larger profit. From this you'll earn something between $170 - $270, depending on the customer.

When delivering moonshine, it is important to stick to the roads as the product can be easily damaged. Take your time. It is also worth mentioning that if you complete a quest for Maggie (destroy oppositions moonshine, kill agency etc) then you will knock off $50 when buying the dispatch)
Extra Note - If you didn't know, you can also purchase a band to play music for your bar, and yes, you can play the instruments. Sometime before the 24th, Christmas will come into RDO so listen out for the christmas theme.

The easiest way to get gold is to simply buy them from the store. I personally DO NOT recommend this as it's basically giving into Rockstar's greedy & aggressive monetization but I'm not going to tell you what or what not to spend, it's your money(or Mummy's credit card) at the end of the day.

To purchase gold on PC, press 'HOME' on your keyboard, click store and do whatever you want.

25 gold bars - $9.99
55 gold bars - $19.99
150 gold bars - $49.99
245 gold bars - $74.99
350 gold bars - $99.99

On Steam I've spent 129 hours in Red Dead Online and I've only earned 193.44 gold bars. Others might be higher with a lower playtime as I've been taking a casual approach to it. So if you have the money and not a lot of time to grind, this will be the option for you.