There is no point in trying to time the market, but do use benchmarks

There is an old adage that "Time always works better than timing in the equity markets". If you are invested in quality stocks, you are bound to earn superior returns over the longer period. But then how do you generate the alpha. That is where volatility gives you an opportunity. Of course, trying to catch the bottom and selling out at the top are great on paper but almost impossible to do in reality. The best you can do is to use benchmarks. For example, look at previous cases of such volatile markets and check how much the P/E of the index has corrected. That will give you a fair idea as to when and how much you should enter the market and buy. That not only works but gives you the additional alpha over and above your buy-and-hold strategy.