One huge benefit I see is for swing trading. It will be impossible to play for ticks and expect to make a profit after commissions, but if you're wanting to trade the hourly chart for example, this will be perfect. I also think that this will be the perfect vehicle bring a trader out of SIM trading and into live trading without huge risk. So many traders fall flat on their face once they go live, and this will be a more "gentle" way to make that transition. The idea isn't really to make a profit you can live from, its more so to test your strategy, test yourself, and help you decide when its time to move up to the ES, NQ, RTY or YM. Its not about making money with these, its about building confidence and consistency. If you average just 2 points in the micro ES (over many days), it might not leave you with any money after commissions, but if you can keep up this level of consistency and then move to ES, and then also move to 2 contracts, 3 contracts, etc, then making 2 points a day on average all of a sudden is a viable way to make a living.
There is another way I can see this being of benefit to people, which is something I will be doing... In the NQ, for example, you get one shot with the $5 per tick. No modification. But with micro, you can customize your exposure to what you want, let's say something less, like 4 contracts. So $2 per tick. Some will instantly scream, "Why would you pay a premium to do that on the micros? Just do it on the mini with one contract!" Well, for live folks, they may need that ability to lose less live, to get the feel for their system, and get comfortable with their system in a real-money environment. Cost of learning on how to do your business? This is all pending the details of course, which are commies and margin requirements. Hey, MGC never let me down when I was messing with it 2 1/2 years ago. Never had a fill problem, either.
Yup, this I think is exactly key. Also, as you say customization. But I look at it more in terms of being able to scale in. With a full NQ or ES contract, a new guy is really not in a position to be trading multiple contracts. At the same time, its difficult to nail the perfect entry if you want to use a tight stop. With a micro contract, you can enter a few times, so called scale into the trade. Of course all of these things are kind of advanced moves and require discipline to do properly, but it really opens up the door.