Back in that wonderful year, it's a wise move to take advantage of high bitcoin price by purchasing other altcoins. Since price movements of some alts are also having a crazy pump, it's way more preferred by others as they can good amount of bitcoin in return withing just a short period of time with the right strategy and trading execution.
It's a gamble either way. People expected that altcoins would rally when Bitcoin's ETF would be rejected or postponed, but it didn't happen. If you bought altcoins with Bitcoin because of that, you would have lost even more.
I am not a trader or speculator myself, but there is nothing better than sitting in fiat during an overall bear market. Some times it's better to not constantly try to time the market, but distance yourself from it instead.
What have people gained by trying to time the market? Most people have only lost money or Bitcoin ratio. Sure, there are certain smart traders knowing how to benefit, but that only concerns like less than 5% of everyone here.