Hi,
You will need to seek your own point of view, but please allow me to insert a little historical perspective and more.
If you read "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator", you will find that the author describes the "bucket shops" of that era. Those "bucket shops" one could go into and place a "wager" on the direction of a stock. They were shut down because thet were not regulated and considered scams. Those wagers are the equalivient of options that was introduced to the retail traders by the government and exchanges in the 1970s. According to statistics I've read over 90% of ALL options expire worthless.
According to Jim Cramer the stock markets can be manipulated easily and this video explains how he did it. In the video he tells how the government ignores it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGLvxqAk4A
According to Dr. Robert Vichas in his book "Getting Rich In Commodities, Currencies or Coins....etc" He tells of how many of the states tried to outlaw trading in commodity futures and succeeded for a while. Commodity futures trading was seen as scams and harmful to the public. He discusses the "Onion Futures" and why they are not traded even today.
Spot FX trading is currently seen as a scam and as in anything they are always going to be crooks.
As to government regulation putting a stop to scams, name one thing that any US government is involved in that is without crooks....including Government! Check out the article "You've Been Had" in the Jan '08 edition of Reader's Digest.
If you think I might be wrong, go the the NASD & NFA websites and view the enforcement actions taken there against brokers & firms. I personally checked up on one Commodity firm, broker & clearing agent that were sued by a client for wrong doings, the client lost...because of TIME LIMITS within the customer agreement...NOT because they were wrong!
From my point of view, there is one good thing that can be said about Commodity and Spot FX trading and that is this;
Stocks and Options (incl futures options) CAN go to ZERO value, but Commodities and Currencies (majors only) can not!
As to strategies to trade & possibly profit as you intend to do, there are plenty here and in other forums on the net that will cost you nothing, just remember to trade them in either a DEMO or Protected Trading Account before going live!
Hope This Helps!