Holding for few years is just what we generally regard as investment since trading is seen from the angle of a couple of days or months before the selling. I think it is necessary to make that distinction for the purpose of the discussion because even short term investment is not too different from position trading which involved holding for several months and sometimes years.
Thinking on trading as the practice of holding only for days or up to few months before selling, makes the activity even more risky for those seeking for a reliable source of profit, at same time it becomes more similar to gambling activity. Regards short term investments in crypto industry, I fear it's not possible to name them as investments due to the unpredictability factor involved. Analysis don't work on short run here, therefore it's a better idea to focus the investments made in crypto aiming long term returns exclusively.
There is a difference between trading and investing. We can describe short term holding as trading but when we describe it as investing we mean long term holding. Trading and short-term profit are not the main objective for those trying to hold Bitcoin. Those who are trading for short-term profit are acting like a form of gambling. They can never be sure so they live in uncertainty like this for years. A Bitcoin holder may not be profitable in the short term but if he is able to hold for several years, he has the opportunity to profit more than a normal trader. While short-term investing carries risk, Bitcoin can provide an opportunity for long-term investment.