In Pain Now? Sell Into This Strength

"Mutual funds finished their selling today, so the market rallied."

There. I like that as a headline. It has a real ring to it. It is true that many mutual funds have the end of October as their yearly close. It helps for tax-planning purposes, so clients won't have to scramble.

We have seen them before, these selloffs that end in October. Usually they don't go to the bell. But these are not usual times. What bothers me is that even though they are annual events, they are always viewed as being catastrophically linked to earnings or some macro event when they are the simple mechanics of the market.

But let's do this: If you hated this market, and it is now rallying, don't wait to see if I am right; let go of some stock. There are a lot of people really hurt right now by this market, really feeling a lot of pain. This is when you should sell if you believe that the world is coming to an end.

I don't believe it is. I clearly don't like the U.S. market as much as a lot of other markets, but I also believe that the market has gotten cheaper -- at lease, I know my stocks have gotten cheaper -- and stuff is so hated that I simply can't hate it as much as the next guy does.

Darkest moment we'll see before the dawn? It's not that dark. Go ahead, sell something. Make my day.

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James J. 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 ActionAlertsPLUS by clicking here. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" at 6 p.m. ET weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." Cramer appreciates your feedback and invites you to send him an email by clicking here.