In the latest news headlines in the real estate investment market, a group of property investors from New York has adopted a new approach to raising investment capital through the internet. The REIT is a group of investors classified as blind pool investors due to the fact that they do not own any physical assets at the moment. The idea is to leverage the experience, skills and knowledge of its members in order to convince online investors to contribute funds that will later be used as capital to buy houses and property within the New York area. The trust which was set up earlier this month hopes to raise at least $50 million to be used in investments within the city.

As modern information technology continues to spread, more and more people are starting to harness its power in order to do business and make profit. Gone are the days when every business transaction had to be drawn out in ink and paper. Today, most transactions are carried out online thanks to the evolution and growth of the internet. The latest online fund raising for real estate investment by the REIT is a clear sign that things are about to undergo major changes within the world of real estate investing and that the internet will play a big role here in the coming years.

Online Trading Versus Online Investment

You probably know or have heard of people who made serious fortunes by investing or trading online. While the manner in which both re conducted online may be relatively new, the ideas and principles behind them are still the same as they were in traditional trading and investment. However, it is worth pointing out that online trading and online investment are not one and the same thing. Online trading, simply defined, refers to trade carried out over the internet. The trade could be in anything from physical commodities, to stocks, bonds, derivatives and other intangible assets. Most people associate online trading with online Forex trading which is defined as trade in different currencies. One of the key benefits of online trading is that transactions are initiated and completed within a matter of seconds without the need for any physical contact between the parties involved.

Online investment, like online trading, also takes a couple of seconds to complete over the internet. But here is the difference between online investing and trading. Online investment usually involves significant financial input from the investors and any mistakes made have the potential to result in overwhelming losses. So even though the transactions can be done in seconds, days or even months of careful analysis and research must be committed to identifying the right products in which to invest.

How to Limit Losses When Trading and Investing Online

The fact that you can make transactions worth millions of dollars online in a matter of seconds also means that you can lose millions of dollars in seconds when you trade or invest online. Avoiding such loss is of paramount importance and below are some tips that can help you do so:

• Understand the products and your investment risks; always make sure you research adequately on each product before you commit to it. Review past trends to see how the product has been performing on the market as that will tell you how it is likely to perform in the future. Investment companies such as CMC Markets carry out regular research into various investment products and would be a good source of information on the same. As they can be more involved in online investment, forex trading than in dealing with physical assets and that is the kind of place you want to go for advice as an online investor.

• Take active steps to safeguard against technical hitches; a disconnected modem, a restart of your computer or temporary loss of internet connection are all simple problems that can result in heavy financial losses for people who trade or invest online. Market prices usually change in a matter of seconds and delays such as the ones mentioned above could lock you out of lucrative windows or expose you to merciless ones.

• Set your price limits; if you trade in fast moving products such as forex or derivatives then limit orders can reduce your risk exposure. A limit order is a special condition that instructs the software you’re using to trade to offload your product once certain conditions have been met. For instance, if you are a Forex trader then you can create a limit order that automatically sells your chosen currency when its market price hits a certain value.