You lost me. Based on what? You just got saying you didn't use EMA cross - which is what you brought up at the beginning of the topic.
I find this signal (price + 20EMA below 50EMA) useful as a fail-safe. Also to cover situations where individual stock charts have not printed a sell but this shows up on the parent index chart. Of course, other stop-loss placement rules might be applied which would lead to an earlier exit, these would depend on the entry set-up, the accrued unrealised profit, the total exposure of the portfolio etc. etc. for the individual to decide.
I don't know what's the point or object of your questioning on this. what you can expect to learn from some random rule that I used to get me out of some positions over a mointh ago - how does that relate to your trading? In fact, on 30/01 I had 6 overlaid long positions on the S&P and 1 on the Nasdaq100. The S&P's closed automatically on 30/01. I manually cut the Nas position by 80%, and it's stop was triggered on 02/02. I have not been long (or short) on either since then. The price + 20EMA below 50EMA crossover took place on 19/03 on the Dow, 30/03 on the Nasdaq and 23/03 on the S&P. If I had been long these indices or any US stocks constituents of these indices by those dates I would have sold them. I have said all this already. My point remains that any trader who uses this pattern to exit long equity positions will avoid the majority of stock market crashes and bear markets.
You said: "I'm just a simple bloke from up north but I've said before - when price and the 20EMA close below the 50, get out." Then you said: "Sure, I grant that any trader would probably have other risk management measures and not just wait in the headlights for the 20/50 cross .... and "Which is why I got out of my US indices longs on 30/01, " Which is why I asked: "You lost me. Based on what?" {Based on what did you get out}. You replied: "Whatever you like." I'm trying to understand the point of your original post. Not to lol learn some secret technique. But from your whatever you like comment it is clear now. "Say no more".
The price + 20EMA below 50EMA is not the only exit signal I would take. But it is a fail-safe, a catastrophe stop. Its applicable when other reasons to exit have not printed (or have been ignored). Its applicable to equities which have not printed this signal but it has shown up on their index chart. I have not recommended having just one exit signal and sitting around waiting for it to print. I have not recommended using the inverse of this fail-safe exit signal as an entry signal. It is a fail-safe signal to get into cash. Use it or ignore it or criticise it but for pity's sake stop bringing up other stuff which I had not put forward. On the other hand, if you've got some suggested tactics, start your own thread.
%% IBD founder William O Neil has a lot of [published]sell rules.One newer one is sell when its outside the channel, but my stocks /ETFs stay outside the channel so often I seldom use that one.[Some use this last sell rule for a buy/longs, works well in a bull market; but another sell rule of his is ''200day moving average = late sell signal. ''] Funny + true.