There are two kinds of futures traders: hedgers and speculators. The shipping company in the example above is a perfect example of a hedger. A pastry company might want to lock in the price of milk to be sure that the prices in its annual catalog won't be out of date, so it might buy futures on milk.
A speculator purchases or sells a futures contract to benefit from an expected change, on the basis of his or her belief about what will happen in the future. Think it'll be a very hot summer? Expect the euro to plummet? If you're willing to make a bet - and these bets can be far riskier than a bet on a stock - you might consider futures trading. (You can easily lose your shirt, though - read on.)
Speculators don't have any interest in taking possession of pork bellies - they're just betting on the direction of the price of pork bellies. This kind of speculative trading dominates the futures market. How do we know this? According to the CME, only 3% of futures contracts lead to the physical delivery of the item that they cover, such as milk. The remainder are offset - canceled out with an opposite, equivalent transaction - before they expire.
