given how shady that business is (seriously it's just a bunch of sharks fleecing anybody they can get their hands on) There's definitely sharks fleecing people

given how shady that business is (seriously it's just a bunch of sharks fleecing anybody they can get their hands on) There's definitely sharks fleecing people in the sense of "buy my automated trading bot!" or "pay $500 for my class and I'll get you pips for days!" or "Pay me $300 for this strategy that will win every time" but forex inherently isn't shady. It's no more shady for an individual trader than stocks, bonds and ETFs as you're legitimately and singularly acting on changes in the value of currencies. This, and there are numerous respectable retail brokers who aren't in the game of anything other than opening/closing positions for their clients. The nature of the security makes it a lot easier for properly registered entities to create markets where trades can happen sans the sharks you're mentioning. The idea that "forex is for scammers" is losing a lot of validity and it's an attitude that I-a guy who trades with his spare/drinking money-wish would go away entirely. At the end of the day, currency trading can be just as risky and loss-worthy as trading stocks to someone who A) doesn't know what they're doing B) is excessively risky with their positions C) all of the above.