there are so many altcoins that you can hold this year. but to be safe, you can hold ethereum. if you are a beginner it's better to invest and hold in altcoins that have cheap prices, but always increase.
Ethereum shouldn't be that bad for a beginner to invest his money, it is a sure thing the could make profits out of it. It is more safer to invest on well-known altcoins if you are a beginner rather than to invest to those cheap prices Altcoins that you don't know when they are going to make a move to the moon. Also, if you are a beginner, it would be good if you are going to start with a small price and do Day Trading for you to learn in a haste way.
Unlike if you are just going to hold your Altcoin, then there is nothing you could learn from that but be patient and be alert because you might miss the opportunity to sell your Altcoin