OP, thanks for including "always do your own research" on the bit about price appreciation!

I have seen a lot of people thinking that halving means a guaranteed price increase, when this is not necessarily the case. When everyone expects something to happen, that means it is almost always priced in beforehand, and when the event itself actually happens, there can even be a small price drop - the maxim 'buy the rumour, sell the news'.

Halving should mean a price increase, and arguably past halving events have led to increases, but the more it happens, the more people anticipate the same happening next time, and so buy up bitcoin ahead of the event, which drives up the price before the halving actually happens.