Op, the story of your friend is a bit interesting but from what I understand the story is that, your friend is a greedy trader. Though having patience pays alot but when we are not 100% guaranteed that the coin is trust worthy what's the reason to still have faith in the coin when things are going bearish? I don't buy altcoin for holding and that because of instances like this, when I believe in something, I hardly let go and that why I will never cease to adopt Bitcoin more and more. But what I don't get is, after your friend must have left altcoin investment, he should have focused on Bitcoin alone and use all that he has for investment to boost his Bitcoin portfolio, if he had done that, he wouldn't be regretting after seeing the current pump in price of some altcoins, because Bitcoin alone will bring enough profit and satisfaction.
In life, there are no guarantees as they say and so as in investing or trading a crypto. This is why all are only taking a risk here and it's up to you if you will elevate your risk by continuing to HODL longer. You can still be compensated huge, if in case you are right with your decision. Bearish conditions may only be normal and even the best coins can experience it too.
There are still great altcoins out there, so I won't judge them completely and in fact, they also had a big contribution to Bitcoin and to the overall crypto market. There's just people who don't like Bitcoin for some reasons and sadly their decisions may not ever change no matter how hard we convince them.