US consultancy TrimTabs Investment Research, in its new Weekly Flow Report, has estimated that investors reacting to poor performance redeemed at least $43 billion from hedge funds in September with more to come. But many hedge funds have reportedly already liquidated sufficient holdings to fund current and expected outflows.

TrimTabs said its preliminary estimates were based on a survey of 1,639 funds.

Chief executive Charles Biderman said: "Despite October's steep sell-off, we do not believe the market has bottomed. While forced hedge fund selling might be complete for now, equity mutual funds are still experiencing major redemptions and corporate America is not announcing new buying."

The report noted that hedge funds lost 19.9 per cent from June to October, "the worst performance since our records began in 2000.  We estimate 11 of 14 hedge fund sectors based upon differing strategies posted outflows in September."