In the 2005/06 season he joined the professional tour, and at the Welsh Open became the youngest player ever to qualify for the final stages of a ranking tournament. He reached the same last-48 stage for the China Open, losing 4–5 to Michael Holt, although this was designated the final qualifying round and was actually played in Prestatyn, Wales.
Trump became the third youngest player ever to reach the World Championship, at the 2007 event, by beating James Wattana 10–5, (with champions Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan respectively younger, and also with China's Liu Chuang) is one of only four 17-year-olds to feature at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. Trump played the 2005 champion and 6th seed, Shaun Murphy, in the first round, losing 6–10 despite having led 6–5.
Trump did not build on this form in the 2007/08 season, only reaching the last 32 of the Welsh Open by beating Joe Swail. He missed out on the World Championship after a 9–10 loss to Swail, having led 9–7.
Things changed for the 2008/09 season when Trump reached the venue stages of the first four events. At the Grand Prix he benefited fromGraeme Dott's withdrawal before defeating Joe Perry 5–2 in the last 16, despite admitting to not playing well and Perry feeling that he had outplayed Trump. Then came the biggest win of his career so far, defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–4 to reach the semi-final, in which he was defeated 6–4 by John Higgins. He beat double world champion Mark Williams to qualify for the 2008 Bahrain Championship. He won a qualifying tournament to gain entry into the 2009 Masters Tournament as the only qualifier, but was defeated by Mark Allen in the first round. He failed to qualify for the World Championship, losing 8–10 to Stephen Lee having led 6–3. Lee considered this match to be a local derby, as he is from nearby Trowbridge. He also noted that Trump had not followed the custom of apologising for fluked shots during the match, and concluded "all I've heard about for the last five years is how good he is. Today he blew a 6–3 lead and hopefully that will stick with him".Trump ended the season in the Top 32 of the rankings for the first time. He was coached for a short time by Tony Chappel.
Trump also qualified for the 2009 Premier League, by winning the 2009 Championship League. In the event he won four of his six matches, including a 4–2 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan and finished second in the League table. However, he lost 5–1 to O'Sullivan in his semi-final.
However, the 2009/2010 season in ranking events was less successful for Trump as he failed to progress beyond the last 32 in any of the tournaments. In January 2010, Trump joined Romford-based snooker agency Grove Leisure.
In the 2010/2011 season, he reached his first professional ranking event final at the 2011 China Open. He defeated former Masters championMark Selby 10–8 to win his first major title, and provisionally climb into the top 16 of the world rankings. On his way to winning the China Open final, Trump also made his 100th competitive century break.
Trump had already qualified for the World Championship when he won the China Open, and was drawn against reigning champion Neil Robertson in the first round, whom he defeated 10–8. In subsequent rounds, he knocked out Martin Gould 13–6, Graeme Dott 13–5 andDing Junhui 17–15 to qualify for his first World Championship final.In the final Trump lost 15–18 to John Higgins.
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