Altcoin is indeed riskier than bitcoin, but the potential for profit is higher than abitcoin. If we have the knowledge and experience in making analysis in choosing potential coins to invest in, we can get the profit according to our target.
and bitcoin is still the safest coin for long-term holding, I agree with that.
For short-term investment, investors go for altcoins rather than Bitcoin because they want to be rich soon.
The cause for higher profits is why we have many investors investing in altcoins even though Bitcoin is safer than altcoins. Investors still prefer taking the risk of investing in altcoins because they want to be rich soon, while Bitcoin can't give them that in a short term, instead long term
Altcoins in the top 10 or 20 according to coinmarketcap maybe have also become like bitcoin, and what this means is that they can not as well give profit in the short term if invested in, but then again, they are also safer (just like bitcoin is) to invest in compared to other Altcoins in the top 200 and above.
Cryptocurrency investment is just like any other investment out there, the higher the risk you take, the higher the potential reward that comes when you win, but the lesser the risk, the lesser the potential reward when you win also.
Personally, I have always preferred to invest in Altcoins much more than I invest in bitcoin, but also one important thing we must never fail to do is to always monitor every Altcoin investment, for anything can happen at anytime..