Yea, welcome to the famiglia. BTC pairs in my book will never dissapoint you, as you will most likely get double profit on FIAT. First, you earn BTC on the trades and next you earn additional FIAT on BTCs price climb.
5 pairs seems a bit low. Set up about 20 pairs, but don't divide your capital into 20 trade sums. Say, if you have 1 BTC capital, divide for trade limits into no more than 5 parts, eg. set trade limit 0.20 on 20 setup pairs. See how it plays out and add more capital when you feel confident. This way most of your capital can be put to work. On pair selection be careful. I strongly suggest to choose sideways pairs with good trade volume. Set initial capital and trade limits low for starters, to avoid tying your capital in bags. Bags WILL HAPPEN, so don't panic. Most of them will clear by themselves. Check pairs daily. Disable double up until you learn how to use it.
And the market is not bearish at all, my bot made over 10 trades on new years eve, of all times. On less than 20 pairs set up, with capital to trade just 2 pairs at a time.
So, happy new year, and good gunbotting!
