In this case I prefer to believe to the facts and to those who represents the market but I respect your choice that you rely on a friend of yours, an individual.I dont need to read forecasts, i have a broker friend.He doesnt make shit from the $25 bucks accounts with insane leverage.
By the way, if you're against leverage, then you should ask (assuming you live in the EU and not in Russia) them to ban many products such as turbos, warrants, futures, options, etc. and many other derivatives which comes with a much higher leverage and which are available for the financially uneducated costumer in a retail bank. Also don't forget to ban loans since that is leverage as well.