Today is the last day for thousands of investors to notify hundreds of hedge funds if they want their money back by the year end.
With Nov 15 seen as a watershed date, some funds are sitting on a pile of cash in anticipation of meeting investor requests.
But some firms that did not plan as well may be forced to sell, managers said, possibly putting more hurt on an already ailing market.
Hedge funds that require three months' notice from investors who wanted to exit by the year end had a similar deadline on Sept 30 - also known in the industry as 'D-Day'.
More such deadlines loom for funds that allow investors to give less notice before taking their money out, fund managers said.
In the last two days, several prominent fund managers made public predictions that illustrate the depth of gloom now sweeping the US$1.7 trillion (S$2.5 trillion) hedge fund industry.
Pension funds, endowments and wealthy investors have put money into hedge funds so quickly that industry assets have doubled in about three years.
Hedge funds are nursing their worst-ever losses, with the average fund down 15 per cent this year, and many investors are punishing the managers for lousy returns.
The flood gates are about to open.
Last month alone, investors pulled US$100 billion from the loosely regulated funds, according to hedge fund data tracker, Eurekahedge.
And investors expect that number to keep rising this month and next.
Mr George Soros, an industry elder statesman who emerged from retirement at age 78 to protect his fortune at Soros Fund Management, said on Thursday that he expected hedge fund industry assets to 'shrink by between 50 per cent and 75 per cent'.
Hedge funds may try to defend themselves against the liquidation wave by limiting the amount of money investors can withdraw at a time by either suspending redemptions or throwing down gates.
REUTERS