MONEY FLOWS OUT OF HEDGE FUNDS AT RECORD RATE

Investors pulled $32bn from hedge funds last month, making 2008 the first year in their recorded history that the funds have had significant outflows, and ending the industry's 18 years of asset growth.

Money has been taken out of funds following every strategy, even those – such as macro funds – which were showing returns, according to data from fund trackers Hedge Fund Research.

The funds enjoyed inflows for the first part of the year, even as the financial crisis hit and traditional mutual funds began to show outflows.

However, in September a tide of redemptions began, according to TrimTabs, another fund tracker.

Conrad Gann, chief operating officer of TrimTabs, said: “We estimate outflows in November were $32bn, and there is an additional pipeline of redemptions that have not been filled, there could be $80bn [of redemptions] in December.

In recent months funds have also tried to halt outflows by limiting or suspending investor withdrawals. This means that data on outflows, which reflects actual repayments to investors, understates the true picture.

投资者上个月从对冲基金中撤出了320亿美元资金，这使得2008年成为有史以来第一个对冲基金业出现大幅资金外流的年份，并终结了该行业长达18年之久的资产增长。

基金跟踪公司对冲基金研究(Hedge Fund Research)的数据显示，采用任何一种投资策略的对冲基金都有资金撤出——即使是那些存在盈利的基金，如宏观基金(Macro Funds)。

今年上半年，即便在金融危机袭来以及传统共同基金开始出现资金外流之际，仍有资金流入对冲基金。

但在今年9月出现了一轮赎回潮，另一家基金跟踪公司TrimTabs表示。

TrimTabs首席运营官康拉德·甘恩(Conrad Gann)称，“我们估计，11月份的资金外流为320亿美元。而且，另一波赎回潮仍在持续，12月份[赎回的]资金可能为800亿美元。”

近几个月来，对冲基金在还尝试过通过限制或暂停投资者撤资来阻止资金外流。这意味着资金外流数据事实上低估了真实情况，因为这些数据反映的只是对冲基金实际归还给投资者的资金。