If a low-risk asset offered a high return, everyone would buy it — pushing its price up and its return down until the extra return disappeared. Markets tend to price risk and return together, which is exactly why "high return, no risk" offers are a warning sign, not a discovery.
A volatile investment's value moves up and down over time. A loss only becomes real if you sell while it's down. Mixing up short-term volatility with a permanent loss is one of the most common, and most costly, investing mistakes — it's exactly what causes people to sell at the worst possible moment.
An investment that did well recently isn't more likely to keep doing well just because of that history. Chasing whatever did best last year is closer to speculation than investing.