If the price does not move there is no way people will make money investing or trading a token if the price do not move. Volatility is good if it moves in your direction (long or short). I think the most important thing is to be able to spot the bottom and buy when the price is close to the bottom because the price will always go up from that position, it is easy to stop the bottom than the top this is very important for newbies to learn this will help then in the long term rather than FOMOing into already pumped tokens and they end up being a bagholder
If you are a new investor and you are entering the market in a period where the market has been inactive for a long time i would definitely recommend you to use your crypto basket in favor of major coins. This is because people get caught in the FOMO in the stagnant market and sink into the inflated bubble coins.
If you are planning to invest for many years, do not try to find the bottom of the price but jump on the train from a reasonable level.
It is difficult to predict the bottom in the price and do not blame yourself for this because you cannot predict the bottom even in the stable period.