I haven't traded commodities for awhile now but as I recall the online
broker I was using also offered these SSF's. 1 Future contract of GOOG
was [at the time, it fluctuates with price of the underlying Stock] it
was around $8,800 plus an additional $8,000 in margin so for $17K + U
could trade 1 contract. I don't remember the specs on the contract so
I couldn't tell U what the leverage is but as U've already figured out
options might make more sense for most people.

Futures typically only deal with expiry, not strike price, ie a Dec
contract of wheat. Expiration is the last trading day of the month ,
derivitives or options on Futures have strike price and expiry just
like a stock option, usually expiring more like a stock option just
past mid month. I don't recall options being available on SSF's.

If U want to play with futures on stock U might try trading a mini
contract [1/5] of one of the indexes like the eMini S&P500 or
something like that to get some Futures experience.

As always technical analysis and luck blend to an outcome one way or
the other. Of course wherever there is leverage and volume, volatility
isn't far behind...

GL...