but I feel it's best to buy during the bearish period so you don't necessarily have to wait forever before your holding yields a good profit.
When do you think the bearish period will come? I am disagreeing with you because there is no time that is the best time to buy bitcoin. It's always now and will always now. Depending on the market situation like bearish or bullish before you can buy bitcoin is not advisable. Imagine you waiting for the bearish period feeling that it is the best time and bitcoin now is on a fast move to 100k what year do you think you will wait for to see the price go low.
One thing you should learn because i see that it is based on your opinion as someone who just started investing i bitcoin. But once you've been through a complete bitcoin bull to bear to bull cycle, nothing gets you scared anymore when it comes to buying and accumulating. You will just keep stacking your bitcoin. Buy low, buy high using DCA or any method you wish to and HODL.