No one can say when in bitcoin and investing there is risk-free because after all investing in bitcoin is clearly risky and we cannot rule out that fact even though maybe the risk is smaller than trading but still the risk is there and we as much as possible should still know about it.
Everything we go through and do has its own risks, as well as being in bitcoin because after all with the fluctuating nature of bitcoin it is clear that we must be able to keep ourselves from worrying too much about the movement of bitcoin as long as we invest in it.
There are many examples when someone starts plunging in bitcoin but is not aware of the risks they face which in the end they lose and feel cheated by bitcoin even though it is their own fault for not knowing more about bitcoin, how bitcoin works like what and the risk of being in bitcoin is like what makes them panic unreasonably due to lack of further understanding of bitcoin.
Whereas if they enjoy the process that is passed and remain confident that the choice in bitcoin is the best then they will definitely remain comfortable because they know all forms of risk will pay off with results where we can achieve the financial freedom that we always want.
Volatility is not the same as risk, and sure everyting is risky including bitcoin. One of the ways to deal with bitcoin's risk is deciding position size, and including investing as much money as you are willing to lose in the event that bitcoin were to go to zero.. so accounting for how great you consider the odds of bitcoin going to zero versus that it could go up in value in various ways might help to establish how much you are willing to invest, whether it is 5%-25% of your income (or the rest of your investment portfolio) or some other amount of your own choosing.
And yes, merely because bitcoin is risky also does not mean that it will pay off in the end or that you are going to profit merely because it is risky.
Surely there are a lot of folks who seem to be mislead or ill-informed about what bitcoin is, and so personally I would suggest that there is a lot of advantage of investing in bitcoin based on ideas of asymmetric information, so a lot of people are misinformed about bitcoin, and so they may well not invest into bitcoin until later, so that misinformation and disinformation likely contributes to bitcoin being undervalued..... while at the same time, there are odds that any of us also could be wrong about bitcoin, so we need to choose our bitcoin position size in accordance to some level of balance, and if we are new to bitcoin investing, we can choose to DCA into bitcoin with a level of our disposable income that is comfortable to us (I like the idea of weekly investing, especially for newbies, or anyone still in their first bitcoin cycle who might consider themselves to be in their accumulation phase) while we are figuring out our own willingness to be more aggressive in our accumulation of bitcoin or not.
Systematically, volatility does not equal risk but when we are in another perspective as investors, we must realize that bitcoin has its own characteristics and uniqueness and volatility is a form of uniqueness of bitcoin and inevitably we must accept it. Especially for beginners who are new to bitcoin sometimes their thinking is too simple where they only focus on the instant profits that will be obtained without realizing that volatility already applies when they are in bitcoin which makes them unwilling to accept the fact that we must be prepared to prepare and be ready for various situations as you said in being willing to lose if bitcoin goes to zero even though it will not be possible for now.
Awareness of what bitcoin is and how bitcoin is not obtained instantly and in a fast time when learning it because after all it takes time especially for beginners who really want to be in bitcoin but when we really believe in bitcoin and what we do is right then it is certain that we will continue to learn about bitcoin because it is the only way for them to understand that what they are doing is not wrong so inevitably they will move from their comfort zone and try to take that risk as a form of process from the investment they are currently doing.