Volatile markets and a series of large concentrated bets that went awry combined to make October a brutal month for some of the world’s largest hedge funds, including York Capital and Discovery.

Several large so-called global macro funds, those hedge funds that make trades across various markets based on their views on economic growth and monetary policy, saw their performance dented by a reversal in the recent rise of the US dollar, and uncertainty over the direction of US interest rates.

Discovery, the $15bn hedge fund run by Robert Citrone, saw its global macro fund tumble by 11.2 per cent up to the middle of October, taking its total loss for the year to date to 20 per cent, making it the largest loser among large hedge funds so far this year.