Is a Market Ever Truely Saturated?

Is it possible for the market in any particular niche to ever be 100% saturated? I mean zero room for newbies to make a buck?
My theory is no, there is always room for more.
Affiliate marketing has been around for years and mostly anyone can profit but yes, it is competative. The dropshipping early adopters have made thier money and cashed out but it can still be done now if smart about it. Making serious $$$ with OnlyFans is less easy now the perfect conditions of the world shut down for COVID is gone and everyone and (literally) their moms is on it now. But can you still sign up and shake that thang for benjamins? Yes, you can.
I say making money comes from three things - being first, being smart or being the hardest working. With the second two, no market is ever oversaturated.

That's what I also thought. But stopping just because of competition means you've already failed before you even started. Looking back, I realized, there will always be room for a new product, a better approach, or a new way to sell.

Mostly agree, but I'd add a nuance to your three things — being first is actually the least important of them in practice. Most of the people making real money right now weren't first to anything. They were second, third, or fiftieth, but they came in with a different angle.

Dropshipping didn't die when it got crowded. What died was copy-pasting the same winning products everyone else was running. The people who kept making money were the ones who picked an unsexy niche, built actual branding, or found a traffic channel nobody was looking at yet. Same with affiliate — the broad "make money online" space is a warzone, but specific buyer-intent keywords in sub-niches are still wide open.

I'd say markets saturate at the tactic level long before they saturate at the opportunity level. The lazy, obvious playbook stops working, and that's what most people mean when they cry "saturated." So no, no market is ever truly 100% saturated — but the easy version of every market absolutely is, and you have to earn the room you're taking.

There’s always some angle left if you’re sharper or hungrier than the average person already in it.
The early people take the easy money, then it gets harder, but the door doesn’t fully close.

Most “dead” niches just filter out the lazy ones.

The ones still making money are usually either smarter with positioning or just grinding harder than everyone else.

What died was copy-pasting the same winning products everyone else was running

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I say you're 100% right with the copy pasting products for dropshipping. I recall a time when junk like those 'posture correctors' were the golden goose. Things like the TikTok shop storefront have mostly sucked up the low fruit for this sort of thing

Yes, markets go from saturation to either oblivian, or reduced impact. If its reduced impact, the market can quite naturally survive a downswing in un popularity only to rise again with a different concept.

Take a look at the example of merch tshirts a few years ago. Everyone was copying each other text designs and the place was flooded with too many sellers to stand out. Then Italian brain rot appeared, and many sellers started using that, and the ones that were quick to use and get their quantity design numbers up, managed to ride the viral trend wave of brain rot character tees. The market is downswinging for all those entering with similar AI quality designs, and low effort, and upswinging for those with good and original quality designs, and those that capture viral trends. (of which there are ones monthly)

You can still make money as either, but you can also choose one that is easier, and a better process than the existing people, and outperform them. Markets as long as they are relevant stay generally competitive.