you are wrong because 2018 was not "crypto's worst nightmare" instead it was the newbie bag holders nightmare because they were new and arrogant enough not to listen to others and continued buying shitcoins in their bubbles and then started bag holding them while continuing to lose money as others dumped on their heads. otherwise everyone else have been making lots money, specially those who have been shorting altcoins hard as they got dumped hard last year.
I agree with you, yes these new comers too were the reason for downfall last year. They bought shit coins without knowing about the project and it's back ground most probably few were scammers. If the coin dumps they will sell in panic and blasted the value of cryptocurrencies last year.