Hi efraenkel
Yes, you are right, you should read carefully the explanations about the market timing.
http://www.superstockpicker.com/market-timing.phpThe portfolios do not sell during a DOWN signal, they could even have taken new positions during the DOWN period, and sold others.
The MTI is only there to warn that the general market has become too negative and that SSP advises to stay at cash.
The SSP algorithms keep working as usual.
It is up to each investor to take the decision to sell and move to cash, or to keep their positions.
So "per se" the MTI is not a SELL order for each and all positions signal.
This is why each portfolio on the portfolio pages is presented twice. One that uses the MTI strategy, and the other one that represent the "normal" portfolio behavior.
The MTI was developed a few years ago when all the markets crashed and many were complaining of big losses.