Yes, you buy and sell stocks… And your social media bio does say you’re a stock trader. But then, are you really?

There’s a big difference between being a stock trader and being a serious stock trader. The former, almost imminently, is expected to end with big losses, while the latter works with a thorough plan that enables her/him to build a high-worth portfolio.

So, what kind of stock trader are you – serious one or just a casual one?

Here are three signs you’re NOT a serious stock trader:

1.You don’t dedicate an amount of time to it every day

A large population of stock traders is in the game part-time. That isn’t wrong or a problem in itself. The problem is when, in the name of ‘part-time’, they don’t commit sufficient amount of time in trading regularly. If you’re one of them, you aren’t exactly a serious trader. To be a profitable trader, it’s essential that you take out a significant amount of time every day to commit to trading – to buy/sell, analyze the market trends, talk to industry people, and consume relevant content.

2.You don’t have a well-defined goal 

This is a big mistake of the new players. They start trading with short-term, money-centric intent. They just want to trade to make money. This overall vagueness derails their trades and pace. You must know exactly what you want to achieve; how much money you want to make; where you see your portfolio in the next 6 and 20 months from now. When you know “how much”, you will automatically get to plan how you’re going to achieve that. 

3.You aren’t actively learning and growing 

You’re never perfect. There’s always a room to improve yourself, as well as your plans and strategies. If you aren’t actively investing in learning and growing yourself, you’re creating a recipe for losses and unsustainability. As a serious stock trader, you must enroll self in a good share market trading course. You must learn from online trading courses and expert articles about technical analysis. You must learn from the market movements, as well as from your own losses and mistakes.

These are three signs that you aren’t exactly a serious stock trader. If you see these signs, it’s important that you fix them in order to make better trades and build for yourself a high-worth portfolio. 

No matter how good of a stock trader you were and how great your strategy was, this was inevitably coming. After all, a loss is a part of the game. You will lose money in stock trading. Moreover, small losses are often essential to pave you the way towards greater returns.

However, that said, recovering from big stock trading losses could be tough; more so for the beginners who still struggle to trade without emotions.

Recommended Read: Are Your Emotions Limiting You As a Stock Trader?

To help you with it, here are five simple tips on how to recover like a pro from big stock trading losses:

1. STOP. 

Meaning, do not act emotionally and trade to recover your losses. Stop yourself from taking further actions.

After big losses, many traders try to recover their lost amount quickly. Don’t be one of them!

In haste, you will only end up making more mistakes, further hurting your portfolio.

2. Accept the loss 

If it’s really a “big” loss, it could be difficult to come to terms with that reality that you lost such a big amount of money.

Of course, this is easier said than done but you must allow yourself enough time to embrace the loss.

3. What went wrong?

Losing is undesirable. But one of the best things about losing is the learning part. You learn a lot.

So, after losing money in your trades, spend some time taking out the lessons for future reference. What did you do wrong here? What went bad? How this loss could have been avoided?

Answer such key questions in retrospection to extract learning value for them.

4. Adjust your plan

You don’t have to adjust your long-term goal, but you definitely have to make some changes in your short-term plan that incorporates this big loss. 

So, give your plan a hard look and readjust it to really bring you back on the right track.

5. Take some time off 

After such big losses, it’s usually desirable to take some time off stock trading and help yourself recover mentally.

This is more important today than ever when traders are evidently showing signs of burnout.

So, if possible, take some time off.

And during that off-time, invest in yourself to grow. Go on a wellness holiday, enroll self in online trading courses, spend more time with the family, and fix your diet.

Especially going through a good share market trading course can help you a lot in plenty of ways, from helping you understand the market better to assisting you in making a better strategy this time.

These are five simple tips on how you can recover from a big stock trading loss like a pro.