Just went to an investment talk tonight organized by the local bank. They are encouraging retail traders to invest in future market and these are the 8 reasons given:

1. Simple way to sell or short the market
2. flexibility to trade alternative asset classes
3. maximize return using leverage
4. lower trading cost
5. protect your portfolio as it can be used to hedge
6. volatility equals opportunity
7. no need to do stock picking, the investor can trade index future for example
8. trade all season, no matter its bull, bear or sideway