I'm not trying to sidestep a routine pullback (< 10%) it is more the corrections (10 to 20%) or Crash scenario's that i'm wanting to protect against.
We are not a huge fan of inverse ETFs. They tend to be designed in a way that makes it hard to make a return on them due to the fees/leverage, natural trend of markets and in many cases how the contracts get rolled over day to day or month to month in these structures. I fbeing used for a short period of time to hedge against some specific risk they can make more sense.
Often, as noted, we would prefer simply trimming the current exposure. The risks here would be a potential tax hit and the opportunity cost if the investment were to continue rising but at some point, portfolio principles need to trump the return/opportunity cost 'risks'.
If worried about declines over the long-term (vs short-term events) we would probably prefer to simply trim an exposure. Holding an inverse ETF over a long period as a hedge is less likely to work out in our view.