Traders Must Go by Intuition

From thestreet.com 8/13/08

Last Sunday, during a ritual morning run, I remember feeling a hint of a breeze that seemed more emphatic than usual. It wasn't obvious, but it was enough to elicit my brain to think, "Hey, maybe there is a change in the weather coming."
When I returned from the run, my neighbor mentioned that she thought the weather was turning; she could "feel it." We intuitively spot slight changes in the weather, consciously or not.
In a column that I wrote on June 11, I talked about a trader's intuition about trading activity in stocks of agricultural companies. Until that day, these stocks had been on a tear.
Shares of Potash (POT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) had surged from $105 in January to $229 that day. Bunge sat at $122, Monsanto was trading $140 and Deere topped out at $82 per share........
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Ag Stocks Mirror Oils

from thestreet.com 6/11/08

What a lifetime as a trader does to one's mind!
Tomatoes are tainted, what does that mean? There must be a trade there somewhere. What do people replace the tomato with? Onions perhaps? Is there a way to trade from the long onion position? Or maybe I should be buying Heinz(HNZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). Ketchup is made from tomatoes, but I just can't see me ordering a turkey on rye with lettuce and ketchup. If you spend enough time trading, you realize that regular events in daily life somehow translate into trades.
Two and a half years ago I was in the mall with my son Eric Chase. It was February so the big holiday sales push had faded into memory. Eric grabbed me and dragged me into GameStop(GME - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). He had to try out the newest games and see if there was a used game trade for himself.
What I saw was a trade. There were three lines filled with people buying games -- both new and used. I couldn't wait to get into GameStop stock. I went to the air with the call. The others looked at me like I was crazy. I told the story about how my 7-year old turned me onto a great looking retail operation. So, as soon as my restrictions were lifted, I bought GME.
To make a long story less long, two weeks later, GME guided positively for the upcoming first quarter and full-year. That stock went to $25 from $18 in a shot -- 38% in a couple of stress free weeks.....
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