The majority of those losing their money with futures were not ready for it, one thing I find surprising when it comes to the markets is that somehow traders expect to become proficient at it in a matter of weeks and this is not possible.
That will happen to a trader that underestimates the market volatility. They are supposed to be ready enough to handle stress to believe that Futures Trading isn't just easy as they think. Otherwise, they will just fail and broke.
Becoming a good trader is a long process in which a series of steps needs to be taken, and if you try to skip those steps then your trading skill will not be as high as it should be and it will be incomplete as well, so when you face adverse market conditions you will make several mistakes which will cost you a lot of money, and those huge mistakes are the ones that end up destroying your account and your capital.
That certainly takes several months. Though we don't need perfection at least we have deep knowledge about trading and more experience as this is a huge factor in how to make a profit from trading. In fact, as we can see that real traders keep on trading despite the situation as they can manage how to handle difficult situations like during bear season and still make some money.