Why should it matter if Joe wants to buy into futures?
Well, it really shouldn't matter. It is supposedly a free market after all. But now they won't be able to, unless they're qualified participants. Say Joe hits a small lottery or something & wants to speculate in p.m. futures a little bit. As of today he can't without jumping through the Dudd-Freak hoops of being able to prove a fairly significant income. It basically puts futures trading off-limits to Joe & Jane. They can still go into a local shop & buy or sell gold, but they aren't allowed to speculate on its future price. Only the big boys can play the game now.