Someone has written a book on this subjecct. Here is the review http://readingthemarkets.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/krishnan-second-leg-down.html Investors, we know, are inclined to cut their profits short and hold on to their losers. In The Second Leg Down: Strategies for Profiting after a Market Sell-Off (Wiley, 2017) Hari P. Krishnan addresses investors who are seeing their portfolios shrink in value but are loath to sell. Anticipating further market declines, they want to hedge their portfolios. By then, however, traditional hedges such as index puts are expensive. Still, they need something to serve as a “hard backstop against portfolio disaster.”
Interesting, but this book deals with hedging techniques after a sell-off has already commenced and option premiums have already gone up.
Here is another book on this topic. I haven't read it myself, so just making you aware of it (not a personal recommendation):