First, forwarding is about goods. When the time comes, you pay and I'll give the goods. Futures are contracts, and commodities are placed in the warehouse of the exchange. You sell contracts, and I buy contracts. What I do is the uncertainty of the long-term change of contract price, making money or losing money.
Second, the forward can default, there is no third-party guarantee, and the maturity price is not appropriate. I don't do your business, futures default, and the CSRC and the exchange fuck you to death!
Third, futures can be traded anywhere along the road, under the overpass and in the field. Futures must go to the exchange!