I planned to buy some altcoins now that we are in a bear market but someone I knew is telling me not to, that its possible more dumps will take place, my question is how will I know when it's the right time to buy coins?
very easy, you just need to look at the price of bitcoin and its dominance. if the price of bitcoin goes up, and dominance goes down, that's a sign the market will reversal. buy it when it happens, but if not better don't buy anything. what your friend said is very accurate, so follow his advice.