Futures are a type of trading type where one enters into a contract to buy or sell an asset at a later date at an agreed-upon price. Futures differ from an option in that the contract holder is obligated to buy or sell the asset at the price when the contract expires. Options holders can choose to exercise them or not.

For example, say the price of BTC is $8000 today. Someone believes the price is going to skyrocket in the next month. They can buy a futures contract to buy BTC at $8000 in one month. If the price of BTC is higher than $8000, then they've made a lot of money. If the price tanks, they have to purchase it at $8000 and take the hit.

Whereas with an option, if the price dropped, they could decide to not exercise the option and just let it expire. That way they only lose the amount of money it cost to buy the option in the first place (which is generally much lower than the asset itself).