It is very difficult to buy and hold through most primary trends (especially volatile bears) although if the call is right you will ultimately be rewarded.  I personally don't have the temperament for it. With technical analysis all we have is what our charts show until it changes, I can't hold until it changes.

Now if you look at the single MA monthly chart you can see that when price broke the MA that afterward in both 01 and 08, price at some point moved all the way up to retouch the MA.  That's a whole lot of faith and daily losses to move all the way up there without throwing in the towel.  I can't do it.  Maybe you can.

SPX Monthly

So what I do, is try to trade my daily charts and be more aggressive on down moves and less so on up moves.  I won't get all of it but it keeps me safe and keeps me from throwing in the towel just before the market re-tanks,

Hope that made any sense.

john