Cramer's TheStreet.com TV Recap: A Case of Options Hangover

After "a big week" last week, the market is experiencing a phenomenon called "options hangover," Jim Cramer said on TheStreet.com TV's Wall Street Confidential video Webcast Monday morning.

Wall Street Confidential host Aaron Task asked Cramer whether the fact that the market is not moving much, despite a lot of recent M&A activity, is a sign that the market is getting tired.

Cramer chalked up the lack of action to this options hangover phenomenon, which tends to last from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm EST. It occurs, said Cramer, because market players who have call options are always hoping that Monday will be a day that'll bring good news. These investors exercise options, get common stock and tend to be margin players, Cramer said. If there is good news between 9:30 am and 1:00 pm, these players "kick it out."

However, this pressure usually abates by mid-afternoon, especially on Mondays because this is the day when mutual funds put a lot of money into the market, he said. The hangover in the morning and then this offset of incoming money usually produces "a bountiful afternoon," Cramer continued.

He said the market has seen this "hangover" phenomenon taking place since May of this year, when the Federal Reserve last raised rates. Cramer said he knows it tends to "freak people out" when the market doesn't respond to good news, but advised them to give the market "a chance."

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