I do not understand from where this forex being risky comes.
I think ppl do not understand the basics of finance.
Leverage is risky not forex or trading.
Every investment with high leverage is risky.It can be gold/silver,real estate,cattle,house or trading.
Basics of leverage is how much money you put upfront and how much money you borrow to make an investment.
Say,you want buy a flat in Mumbai worth 2 Cr as an investment hoping the rate will go up to 6Cr in 3 years.But you have only 50 Lakhs money with you.So,you talk to a Banker friend who will lend you rest of 1.5Cr in return of modest return of 10%(just assume).
Suppose after end of the 3 yrs you are right and property is worth 6 crores. Out of the 4 crore profit you will pay back 2 Cr( 1.5cr principal and 0.5 Cr interest) and keep the rest of 2 Crore with you.
So,you invested 50 lakh and got 2.5Cr.
In the other case say property price comes down by 20 Lakhs due to economic slow down. But,you have to pay the loan back to the bank anyway after 3 years.
After paying interest of 0.5 Cr interest + loan 1.5 Cr,you are left with 1.8Cr-1.5Cr-0.5= -20 Lakh
Net 70 lakh loss.
Remove the interest component and apply the same to forex or any kind of option/futures trading with leverage.(Actually there is interest component in forex called SWAP)
Leverage magnifies gain/loss.
Forex,Futures,commodity even stocks options (Call/put) have high leverage has same degree of risk.
Forex is not different from any other kinds of investment as such.
Only thing is forex brokers allow kids to play(over leverage) with 10$ which others might not allow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage_%28finance%29
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/leverage.asp
to invest with you.You deal with bank says