Futures and options were born from commercial needs.
Suppose you produce oranges. It'll take a few months for the harvest, and while costs are generally well understood and stable, at what price will you sell those oranges? What if by then the price of oranges tanks and you find out you're not turning a profit? This is where futures come in. The producer can sell a number of futures contract to lock in a future selling price, making cash flows much clearer and predictable.
Conversely, there's the case of a factory that needs to buy oranges for its products. They have the opposite problem and would like to make costs more predictable. Then they'd buy futures to lock in a future buying price.
Suppose you produce oranges. It'll take a few months for the harvest, and while costs are generally well understood and stable, at what price will you sell those oranges? What if by then the price of oranges tanks and you find out you're not turning a profit? This is where futures come in. The producer can sell a number of futures contract to lock in a future selling price, making cash flows much clearer and predictable.
Conversely, there's the case of a factory that needs to buy oranges for its products. They have the opposite problem and would like to make costs more predictable. Then they'd buy futures to lock in a future buying price.