Speculators 1, Shorts 0

I keep hearing that this is a "speculative" market. A key hallmark, however, of a speculative market is that speculation is a sucker's game, and people get burned and burned quickly. The speculative attack is a huge part of why the pros hate this market.

But here's an amazing thing. You know who is cleaning up in this market? You know who are making gains of a lifetime? The speculators!

Consider those who bought Citigroup (C - commentary - Trade Now) when it looked like a colossal joke, a ward of the state, a pathetic bank that wasn't going to work its way out of its hole. You are up about two bucks from the conversion! That's remarkable. What a home run. I am getting letters from people who made $20,000, $30,000 on this one from watching "Mad Money" and reading this blog.

Was there a bigger punch line of a joke than Freddie Mac (FRE - commentary - Trade Now)? Of course, Fannie Mae (FNM - commentary - Trade Now)! Will you look at how they are trading? And I am talking about monumental gains. Huge. The speculators nailed it. They were so much smarter than the intellectuals and the aggressive, uninformed short-sellers.

And then, finally, there is AIG (AIG - commentary - Trade Now). Here's one where, honestly, they could sell off every division for double what they are looking for, they could earn 10 times what anyone thinks they could earn, and it will still come nowhere near paying back that money it owes the government.

So what happens? You doubled your money after the 20-for-1 reverse split that all the pros know is a "you can run but you can't hide" sucker play! That's catastrophic to the rigorous players; it's natural to the speculators.

Look, for anyone who took a flier on virtually anything that looked bankrupt, Huntington Bancshares (HBAN - commentary - Trade Now), Fifth Third (FITB - commentary - Trade Now), KeyCorp (KEY - commentary - Trade Now), Regions Financial (RF - commentary - Trade Now), Textron (TXT - commentary - Trade Now), Genworth (GENW - commentary - Trade Now), Ford (F - commentary - Trade Now), Hartford (HIG - commentary - Trade Now), Principal Financial (PFG - commentary - Trade Now), Bank of America (BAC - commentary - Trade Now), they all paid off. Big.

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Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman 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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