A market disconnect can be a powerful -- and profitable -- force.

Remember the gold rush of 2009?

I'm not talking about the yellow metal. After all, gold prices rose "only" about 40% in the 12 months ended in October of that year.

The real gains came from the companies that actually dug gold out of the ground. As measured by the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), gold miners rose an astonishing 150% during the same period.

If you missed out on that move, not to worry -- it's starting to play out again, but with a different cast of characters.

First, some background...

The stock market spent most of 2008 in panic mode, spooked by emerging crises in the U.S. housing and financial markets. Fear was the order of the day. Selling was rampant.

The one investment that held up better than the broader market was gold -- not surprising, given that investors view gold as a safe haven. What didn't make sense was that shares of gold miners -- the companies that profit the most from high gold prices -- plunged in value.

In fact, between the start of 2007 until late October 2008, gold prices were up roughly 15%. By comparison, the gold miners -- as measured by the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) -- were down nearly 60%.

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In other words, the shares of the producers became disconnected from the price of the underlying commodity. Simply put, many investors were selling just about any stock they owned during that time. But as the market corrected itself, the investors who were the first to notice the disparity were richly rewarded...

Is history about to repeat itself?

According to Scarcity & Real Wealth's Nathan Slaughter, it could be. Nathan has found another large disconnect in one of the market's most talked about commodities -- natural gas.

This past March, natural gas supplies in the United States grew to levels about 60% higher than average. The main culprit: An unusually warm winter across much of the country, which kept a lid on heating demand. By mid-April, natural gas prices had dropped to less than $2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), the lowest in a decade.

But then things began to heat up.

The cheap prices sparked increased demand from utilities, which were turning to natural gas at the expense of coal as the primary source of power generation.

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Meanwhile, the hottest spring on record in the continental United States turned into the third-hottest summer in recorded history. This led to a surge in gas-powered electricity demand to keep air conditioners working overtime.