Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Tricks of the Trade (Final)

Click here for an archive of Jim Cramer's Mad Money recaps. Click here to get Jim Cramer's Mad Money Post Game video exclusively on TheStreet.com.

---

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "Sometimes it feels like there's no pattern to to the markets," Jim Cramer told the viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Tuesday.

Today, for example, steel stocks such as US Steel (X Quote) got clobbered, while other industrial stocks, like chemical company PPG (PPG Quote), a stock which Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, finished strong. Oil giants ExxonMobil (XOM Quote) ended higher, meanwhile oil driller Transocean (RIG Quote), finished sharply lower. What's going on? Cramer said we need only look at the calendar.

Cramer reminded viewers that we're just three days away from the end of the month, and the end of the fiscal year for many hedge funds and mutual funds. He said this means the race to "mark up," or take higher, a fund's largest positions has begun.

Cramer explained that many funds will bolster their quarterly and yearly performance by buying more of the stocks it already owns, thus taking those stocks higher. "Every dollar matters to these guys," he said, so even a small bump can make a huge difference in a billion dollar portfolio.

Since enforcement officials watch for this "less-than-ethical" maneuver on the last day of the month, Cramer said most funds will begin their buying throughout the first part of the last week of October, and end on Thursday, the day before their fiscal years officially end. This mark-up buying, he said, will send some stocks higher, seemingly for no reason at all.

Cramer said the markets will not make much sense for the next three days. He said investors looking to cash in some stocks should wait until Thursday to receive the best price, while those looking to buy into the highest of high-flying names may be better off waiting until next week's trading.