Starting small futures trading shop

I'm not giving you legal advice here, solely my own opinion - but from a regulatory/corporate governance perspective, sounds like you guys are pretty loose. Maybe too loose.

Structural Considerations

1. Where are you forming your entities? Some states (Wyoming for example) offer incentives to form an LLC there which may seem good to a fledgling manager (saving a couple hundred/thousand a year in formation/taxation costs), however when investors learn you are domiciled in Wyoming they will laugh you out of the room.

2. Where are your investors coming from? I have helped set up more funds than I can count and almost none of them utilized a single LLC as their "structure". Even if you are only taking in HNW money, you want to have a structure that is flexible, in case you end up having success and wanting to raise more money down the line, especially if that money is coming from ERISA, US tax-exempt, foreign institutions, etc. A Cayman master/feeder structure is extremely popular for that reason - it allows you to raise money from most of the main sources and invest it most easily. Flexibility is key, because it is expensive to set up a fund properly, but way more expensive and perilous to the business to "fix the structure" midstream.

3. You should likely set up a management company that you collect your profits through rather than participating pro-rata with the investors through an LLC. There are a host of reasons for this that you can google.

4. I implore you to get professional legal help to set up your structure and operating agreements. It is all too common for new managers to take shortcuts and "save money" on the structuring of their fund entities and the negotiation of their governing documents, and then end up a couple years down the line spending way, way more money to litigate/restructure their way out of tussles with investors and counter parties. Private funds investment law is very complex and requires a deep bench of securities law and tax law talent to navigate successfully. Do not go it alone.

This is super important, so it bears repetition: Do not skimp out on setup costs now, because the money you save will not be worth the headache it causes down the line if/when you want to scale your fund. There are a million ways to get in trouble with the law, your investors, or your counter parties, the vast majority of which can be avoided entirely through proper fund setup.

Other Considerations

Securities law does not look favorably on verbal agreements and fast-and-loose fundraising. To do this right, you need to fashion legitimate partnership agreements, private placement memoranda, subscription agreements, and other governing/disclosure documents. You want to be sure that at any point, you can say "my investors were clear on the risk, and everything was handled transparently and in detailed writing".

There are a host of regulatory filings that you have to make, depending on where you fit into the '40 Act. I would spend time and money figuring out what type of manager you are, and therefore what is legal and what is not as far as your fundraising practices and regulatory filing obligations are concerned.

TL;DR - a lot of fledgling managers think that managing money is all it takes to get into running hedge funds. They fail to realize that a hedge fund is a business, and separate from just putting up nice returns. The suggestion that all you need is a solid investment thesis is as ridiculous as saying that all a restaurateur needs is a good recipe. Without proper structuring, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, etc., you are essentially setting yourself up to be the target of (warranted) concerns about your legitimacy. The world of private funds is very insular and niche, and so it behooves you to get in touch with a law firm that has a track record to help you set it up.