Playing the Topsy-Turvy Trading Game

Here's an investment strategy for you: Take whatever was down yesterday and buy it today. Fund it with sales of yesterday's winners. Goldman (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take) gets clocked yesterday? Pay up 4! Banks awful? Get down there and scoop up Citigroup (C - commentary - Cramer's Take) and JPMorgan (JPM - commentary - Cramer's Take). (Please run, don't walk, to Doug Kass' unbelievably variant view of warming up to the financials. He was dead right on the way down; his change is blaring in my head and should to you, too.) Costco's (COST - commentary - Cramer's Take) been strong; great quarter? Sell. MasterCard's (MA - commentary - Cramer's Take) been doggy; great quarter? Take it up 20 and change.

Or how about National Oilwell Varco (NOV - commentary - Cramer's Take)? This one's been on a tear because of a belief that oil inventories would be down big. They were, but we are getting big selling anyway. Nothing acted worse than Procter (PG - commentary - Cramer's Take) lately, except Pepsi (PEP - commentary - Cramer's Take). You could have made fortunes shorting these non-takeover-able stocks. Not today: You'd be creamed.

I was pulling what was left of my hair out buying Altria (MO - commentary - Cramer's Take) yesterday and was nearly sick at the relentless decline despite what I think is the likelihood of an SAB transaction, which Altria partially owns. Today it reacts even as Anheuser-Busch (BUD - commentary - Cramer's Take) signals a deal.

And then there is the biggest conundrum. You couldn't touch the drug stocks yesterday; today, Abbott (ABT - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- a stock I own for Action Alerts PLUS -- is soaring.

Of course, this is simply a deadly moment for anyone trying to outperform on a short-term basis. No one's that good. You give up exactly what you "made" yesterday and can't make it back today because of the cosmic shift.

So, what do you do? I like to prepare for the change by buying stocks getting hammered today. I am bidding for Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - commentary - Cramer's Take). I want to sell, small, the stocks I have been buying down that are now turning, although I think more outperformance beckons.

The trick is to simply be where they ain't with buy orders, and be where they are with sell orders. Frontsies/backsies on a daily basis.

Counterintuitive, but dead right.

Random musings: Congrats to the New York Stock Exchange (NYX - commentary - Cramer's Take) for going into commodities. I still like gold!

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Abbott, Freeport, Goldman and Altria.

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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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