What is the difference between Investing and Trading?

StartEngine is an Equity Crowdfunding platform that gives individuals the opportunity to invest in startups and private companies and for certain companies, gives individuals the opportunity to trade these securities through StartEngine Secondary.

Investing and trading are terms that are often used interchangeably throughout the finance industry, but on StartEngine they are separate actions.

What is Investing on StartEngine?

When you invest in a company on StartEngine, this means you are purchasing securities directly from the company via their campaign page. An example of this would be visiting https://www.startengine.com/laneaxis (or another campaign page) and submitting an investment by clicking "invest now". When you invest in a company actively raising funds, you are sending funds to the company in exchange for equity or debt in the company that is issued directly by the company you invested in.

Any time you submit an investment, it will be accessible via your StartEngine account at: https://www.startengine.com/dashboard/investments/all

What is Trading on StartEngine?

Companies that have previously raised funds via Equity Crowdfunding can quote their shares for trade on StartEngine Secondary (an Alternative Trading System or 'ATS'). StartEngine Secondary is a peer-to-peer platform that gives investors the opportunity to buy and sell these securities that were previously offered via an Equity Crowdfunding campaign. When trading, investors are buying and selling shares from one another as opposed to buying or selling the shares from/to the company they were issued from. StartEngine Secondary can be found here: https://secondary.startengine.com/account

What is the difference between "Investing" and "Trading"?

The difference between investing and trading is based on where the securities are being purchased or sold from. When buying securities directly from the company,  this is considered "investing" and when buying or selling securities via StartEngine Secondary, this is considered trading as the shares are being bought and sold by other investors on the StartEngine platform.