Is futures trading halal?
No, by broad scholarly agreement — futures defer both payment and delivery (prohibited as bay' al-kali' bi'l-kali'), are leveraged, and are overwhelmingly cash-settled bets.
A futures contract exchanges nothing today: payment later for delivery later — the deferred-for-deferred sale classical fiqh explicitly prohibits. Add margin (interest-bearing), daily mark-to-market, and the fact that the vast majority of contracts close in cash without any commodity moving, and futures fail on multiple independent grounds. AAOIFI's standards say so directly.
The legitimate need futures serve — hedging real exposure — has a fiqh counterpart in salam and istisna' contracts (advance payment for future delivery of defined goods), used in Islamic trade finance. Retail speculation has no compliant analog because the thing itself is the problem.
The compliant alternative
For commodity exposure: spot physical or allocated metals. For hedging real business exposure: salam/istisna' structures via Islamic trade finance.
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Are micro futures or commodity ETFs different?
Micros are the same contract smaller. Futures-based commodity ETFs inherit the futures problem — physically-backed funds are the screened alternative where they exist (mainly precious metals).
Related
Educational summary of commonly held scholarly positions — not a fatwa or financial advice. Where scholars differ, we say so; for a binding ruling on your situation, consult your scholar. See how Penny screens.