When Can We Start Breaking Things?

[Papewaio]

Look you strange animal the futures market is a 'market' like anything else (the clue's in the name). Like any other market the prices rise and fall on supply and demand. It is not there to "ensure an agreed price tomorrow" as otherwise I could buy at any price I wished and the sole purpose of the 'market' would be to 'ensure' I got the price I agreed; it would NOT be a market but a price fixing mechanism and losses would be impossible; supply wouldn't matter a jot.

Whatever your strange ideas of 'evil capitalists' a 'market' cannot "ensure an agreed price tomorrow".

Now consider that futures started out in agriculture, I'd listen to the farmer.

The very definition of a futures market is to agree to a future price. It is to smooth out supply and demand peaks and plummets causing massive price spikes and valleys. The idea is to make it more predicatable and hence less risky to all. Of course reducing risk does generally reduce profit margins.

But then again the futures market is really more a long term idea.

"A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts; that is, a contract to buy specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future" - Wikipedia