US Steel Corp - and Deprogramming my Bias

I grew up listening to the trading exploits of my father, an elliot wave counting permabear. He would spend hours reading me the Wall Street Journal, and telling me that at some point, a huge corrective wave would come in and blow everyone out of the water. That was his thing, that's how he made his bacon - or lost it in some cases. When I started trading, all I could see were potential 5 waves down, or ending diagnals that would soon thrust themselves into the hearts of blood-sucking bulls.... Well I started trading in May 2009.... the fact I still have my trading account, and that it is bigger than when I started is really amazing.

However, it's time to become my own man... my own trader, and my own analyst. These old bearish habits have cost me a lot of money (well, not cost me in real dollars, but ... think of it as opportunity costs). My attitude needs to change... my outlook, discipline, and objectivity need refining.

At any rate, one stock I've loved both long and short for the past few months has been US Steel Corp. I've been as objective on it as any trader can be. I liked it at 35, loathed it at 66, loved it again at 43, and am now again giving it the cold shoulder.

Here's why:



I'll be totally honest. I bought put contracts on X... waaay too early; in the 58 dollar range to be precise. I have paid dearly for jumping the gun, but being in a day early and a dollar deep seems to be my Modus Operandi, but I very seldom ever am on the wrong side of trades like this, so the bile I'm tasting is probably only temporary. However, March on the whole hasn't been too good to me for trading. I don't see many long positions I like at all - I made a nice trade in going long on BNS, and another going long on STT, but otherwise it's just been a small string of small losses from being stopped out on the short side.

Now, remember... I want to stop being a bear, but I honestly can't see many trades I like in the stocks I follow.

I hope that after the 'three-star doji' day on the Dow, that it might finally take a break so that I can go long and practice being a bull - I'd also like to get myself out of this dreadful hole I am in with X - hopefully my intuition doesn't fail me this time.