NEW YORK - November 12, 2008  - As much as $100 billion was wiped off the value of hedge fund assets last month as panic-stricken investors rushed to withdraw their capital and the worst markets in living memory blew a giant hole in performance.

Investors redeemed about $60 billion of funds in October, while see-sawing market conditions accounted for the remaining $40 billion fall, according to EurekaHedge, the Singapore based industry research firm.

The drop in assets under management means that, worldwide, hedge funds probably manage about $1.6 trillion on behalf of wealthy individual and professional institutional investors.

This is down from a peak last year of about $2 trillion at the top of the hedge fund boom and comes amid predictions that a rash of funds will collapse before the end of the year.

Experts have predicted that as many as one in four hedge funds will be forced to shut within the next five to six weeks, with hundreds of billions of dollars more eventually being wiped off assets.

Ed. Note: It is time to invest in canned goods, water, and ammo, if you already haven’t done so.