formal knowledge got when you try something new, and most of us know bitcoin from experiencing good and bad thing.
its not easy like play easy game, every investment need strong thought, to surf deeper, to take big profit. and easy investment is just following third party that just give you clean profit every week/month. no need to think about what to do, just prepare you funds.
It is totally understandable if we just try to gain experience if we could. That would be a better thing and we would be able to just get better and better over time, it is really a great situation for everyone involved. Sure you are going to end up with some losses and that is why many people do not try it but theory could get you only to a level whereas everything else will make you a lot richer.
If we end up buying at low levels and sell at higher levels then it doesn't matter how long it takes to profit, it would give us a great chance to make a profit over period of long time when we are newbies and we will get better at doing it and can be able to do it quicker as well. So just start doing it right away, learn from your mistakes, see how the better version could be done and you are going to end up with making a lot more profit in the long run.
Not only in crypto, but also in all sources of income, if we can simply do the right thing in the first place, we will make a lot of profits in the long run. Being able to manage our investments properly will always result a positive outcome with good returns.
Yes, you are right OP, no where is actually safe since we all have risks to take when we aim of profits. But if we start learning how to manage the risk, that's the time we will find success in our investments.