Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Investors pulled the most money out of U.S. stocks in February since the early days of the financial crisis.

Outflows from U.S. equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds totaled $41.3 billion in February, according to the Investment Company Institute. That's the most by a dollar amount since a $42.8 billion outflow in January 2008.

The fell 10 percent into correction territory in February for the first time in just about two years. The index lost nearly 4.5 percent that month and fell another 4.8 percent in March amid worries about rising interest rates, a potential U.S.-China trade war and prohibitive regulation on technology giants.

While investors pulled a total $53 billion from U.S. stocks from January to March, they turned to U.S. bonds and international stocks, the institute's data showed. Domestic bonds saw inflows of $48 billion in the first quarter, and international stock funds gained $73 billion in inflows.