Lot of differing opinions out there but thank you for all your replies. Honestly it seems like these coins are just for lining the pockets of developers for short periods of time. I was a news trader in Forex. That was a lot different though. You have things like the nonfarm payroll reports that are scheduled and move the market significantly. There are no reports per say in altcoins. Even trying to calculate M1 supply is impossible or so it seems. Seems to me that everyone is chasing the success of Bitcoins....hopelessly. Litecoin MIGHT have a chance as there is some adoption it seems. Without real demand (not from traders and miners etc) no coin can succeed and all will (and should) be worth zero.

How is this for a strategy......

I mine altcoins from multipool or wherever. Using autoswitch, auto payout, autosell. Hold all proceeds in BTC locally on my (air-gapped)computer. Hold the BTC's till after the next halving. Seems like this would be my best/easiest bet. Kind of takes bits and pieces from all the advice you guys have given more or less.

Am I right in my assumption that the upcoming reward halving in the next year/few years will cause significant appreciation in BTC?

Again thanks for all your advice....