After when the Polkadot started their parachain auction, the hype started to slow and prices started to fall down same with other altcoins too.
With this Parachain auction event of there, I can say that it is somehow neutral, just hype at the beginning and we saw a price action happen on Polkadot when they announced their Parachain auction, for only Q1 2022? I don't say it is good for that timeframe only as I am looking forward to long-term on Polkadot, not only 1 quarter.

I think what OP means about things changed is not the trading itself like the technical analysis, maybe about pairs/platform he/she is using. But the method for me is still the same as how you analyze things.
Or maybe they also telling about the different bots that are spreading right now, where this bots will trade for you based on configuration you set.

Meta company is bullish for cryptocurrency, especially the metaverse related altcoins, as you saw when Facebook renamed to Meta, most of the altcoins that are about NFT/Metaverse pumped too hard, and after that, huge dump.

I want to see how Meta will handle privacy and decentralization, as we all know Meta is a company and recently there are lot of issues about them about privacy.

Well, that $25 for sure for some people is already a big amount of money, so OP is considered greedy, you will also consider the portfolio size, or how much OP capital is for investment.

Another thing why greedy is, investment indeed on that altcoins because as OP said, it was new altcoins and still cheap, so there are still a lot of possibilities it will turn to scam as what most of altcoins actions.

One of the many triggers here is social media, where some content creators or influencers are only posting the success trades or just manipulating just to make a lot of views.
Most of the victims here are newbies, then the greed comes here. I already experienced this when I was a newbie, that's why I am glad that I am still here, still doing trading, fixed those mistakes at the beginning is a MUST.

Another possible will happen is what happened last first quarter of 2018. After Bitcoin reached its peak, we saw a huge run for the altcoins, even shitcoins before most of them are pumping, it is still possible to happen for sure but this time will be more different, as the percentage of the pump could be less more.

But on the other hand, we should be ready for the bear market. This year could be possible the bear market season for the cryptocurrency market or like crypto winter, which we are just on sideways.

As I always say to other people, "There are still a lot of opportunities ahead", especially in trading. If you missed some quality trade position, don't be sad, you can wait for another good entry.
It is much better to wait than to lose money with your bad and greedy decision. Newbies must also learn this.

Most cryptocurrencies are not on a stable price, not only Ethereum and Bitcoin but for me, these 2 top market cap coins right now are much better than others especially in the times like this, in which we are encountering huge dumps. Because there is always a chance that these 2 altcoins got a low percentage of dumps compared to other altcoins especially for those mid to small market caps.

It seems you are doing trade here because if you are a trader you must have stopped loss or price target. If none, you should consider yourself as investor especially if you are looking for a long term.
Speaking of the Bitcoin price target, there are a lot of things to consider like the timeframe, short term? Mid-term or long term?

Another thing for me for OP is if you give some target you should have an explanation on how did you get those numbers, so much better if you provide some data or even technical analysis like a chart or fundamental analysis.

Expect that there will be some members who will start to advise you about shitcoins, "avoid shitcoins", "bad decision". For me nothing is wrong with your decision, I know someone who is not that techy and started only to own the first cryptocurrency is a meme coin before and this friend of mine made huge profits for that meme coin before even she just started after me.

So, yes, you have also a good decision not to all in because as we know and you already admitted that these are shitcoins.

I am expecting that more countries will follow El Salvador this year, for sure not only 1 country. Especially when they will start to appreciate the good things of it from El Salvador.
But we should also be ready for the negative things that could happen this year like Bitcoin could possibly visit below $40,000 or worst below $30,000 but I am on always the positive side.
Another thing is the bitcoin block halving that will happen in 2024, we are still far but as the year changed from 2021 to 2022, it is getting near to the block halving.

For the last quarter of last year, I am somehow made comeback since I won some. But overall to evaluate my gambling losses last year, I was more within breakeven and lost.
But I also agree that I did not make any gambling mistakes, especially the most mistakes I made before in the past which is chasing my losses back.

If so, we should try to look on the fundamental side of Bitcoin right now, not on the technical part like on the charts, because as you said nobody is hundred percent sure about the moves. So it is much better to look at the fundamental side like the adoption, number of transactions, the block halvings, and volume being transacted on the Bitcoin network.  Because for sure, the long term is good for this, this is the move that I consider good for Bitcoin.

New traders of course must start from the basic or core of trading.
Support & resistance, if you are a newbie you must understand first this one of the basics.

And another thing that most the newbies ignored or don't really practice is risk management, this will help you to preserve your capital, minimizing your losses and maximizing profits, this is involve how to properly use your trading size, stop losses and take profits.

I already tried Initial Dex Offering (IDO) on the Solana network. If you are using a very small amount of funds, try to avoid the Ethereum network as the Ethereum network got expensive transaction fees.
These are alternative IDO platforms on Solana right now, Raydium, Solstarter, Solpad, and for sure there are a lot more out there. I already tried the Raydium.

I really learned a lot of things just using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
Next year will be the same, I will still hold and continue to accumulate more Bitcoin. Either we will experience a bear market again next year, for me, it is a good opportunity again to accumulate a lot of cheap Bitcoin.
On the other hand, if ever I will be needed some money, I am treating Bitcoin like my emergency money or bank account that I can use anytime.

As others suggested, using such bots will help you, or building your own is also the best alternative as it will help you to customize based on what your goal is.
Tradingview can also help you but it is limited especially if you are using it for free.
You can also try this - https://tools.tradingroom.io/ , there's an option there where you can select only pairs that are listed on Binance only.

The metaverse hype for me will still stay longer, this could be just correcting what happened right now, and it is not only on metaverse tokens but indeed for the whole cryptocurrency market.
I like your choices OP, holding such a high market cap is safer right now. But if you are more into risk takers and willing to gamble, finding a gem that is metaverse related that still low market cap, there are a bunch of them right now.

Overall, if Bitcoin will still continue to dump, for sure Metaverse hype will get affected.

For me, Shiba Inu is already done and just like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, after the hype happened, the king or original one will stay.
So here comes the Dogecoin, Dogecoin is the first meme coin built and it is forked of Bitcoin. So for me, Shiba Inu will not stay long, I'd rather invest in Dogecoin than Shiba Inu.

No one mention one of the cheapest transaction fee and fast network right now.
Solana network. There are a lot of stablecoins right now on Solana, such as USDC, USDT, UST, etc. You will just select what you will use because you are in Solana networks and those stablecoins are SPL20 tokens (the equivalent of ERC20 on Ethereum, e.g. USDT).