Holding is the best way for those who have no experience in trading because in my opinion holding is less risky than trading. Holding for bitcoin is the best way and you can choose it for long time.
Even if people who have experience, there is no problem to hold for a long time. Experienced people must hold Bitcoin for a long term, 3-4 years at least. But they may trade other crypto coins as well, it is because they can earn money from altcoins, too. As we know, trading altcoins can be also very profitable, but it surely requires sufficient knowledge.
But in case of altcoins there is no such guarantee especially from new altcoins you will not get dependable profit or risk free. Coming to your question, for me altcoins are best as short time investment because the amount of risk is high. But top altcoins are always good and you can catch them for long time holding.
Even in Bitcoin, there is no guarantee as well. But I agree that altcoins are riskier because they are more volatile and many of them are not very strong coins. We actually have no problem to hold strong altcoins for a long time. Ethereum, BNB, Solana are good altcoins for holding a long time.