How is the hour-of-day pattern worked out?

Every hourly price is divided by the same item’s average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting up or down over the month does not make one end of the day look dear, and the 24 hours are then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest. Hours are UTC, with the hour on the wall in the zone most of the market’s players keep beside them.

How much history does the pattern need?

Each hour of the day needs a few days of scans behind it before its figure means anything. The confidence line reads the thinnest hour: settled from ten days of scans, provisional from three, too early under that, and no pattern at all while fewer than half the hours have been scanned. Scanning Normal Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.

Best hours to buy and sell

Pick a market and an item. Every hour of the day shows its typical price, lowest buyout and listings, and the page names the cheapest hours to buy, the dearest to sell, and what the gap is worth after the 5 percent cut.

On Normal Alliance US, Formula: Enchant Gloves - Skinning is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 360% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: Normal Alliance US. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/normal/alliance/us

1MarketEach house keeps its own hours.2WindowDays of scans the hours are averaged over.3ItemKept while you switch market or window; type another below.

Item

Best hours to buy

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 0.885 · typical 44s

Best hours to sell

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 1.140 · typical 1g 69s 58c

Spread after the 5% cut

+360%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

Too early

Too early to trust: the thinnest hour has 0 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Formula: Enchant Gloves - Skinningby hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	5g 48s	5g 48s	5	1.038	3
01:00	17:00	10g 26s	10g 25s	10	0.899	3
02:00	18:00	7g 80s 75c	7g 79s 75c	9	1.011	4
03:00	19:00	7g 80s 75c	7g 79s 50c	9	1.081	4
04:00	20:00	5g 29s 67c	5g 29s 33c	13	0.914	3
05:00	21:00	5g 29s 67c	5g 29s 33c	15	0.938	3
06:00	22:00	6g 54s 75c	6g 54s 50c	12	1.081	4
07:00	23:00	7g 72s	7g 72s	19	0.933	2
08:00	00:00	44s	35s	38	0.871	1
09:00	01:00	44s	35s	37	0.889	1
10:00	02:00	44s	35s	37	0.896	1
11:00	03:00	44s	34s	36	0.978	1
13:00	05:00	44s	34s	23	1.094	1
14:00	06:00	2g 27s	1g 39s 50c	12	0.957	2
15:00	07:00	1g 40s	1g 16s 50c	12	0.843	2
16:00	08:00	2g 45s	1g 54s	10	1.194	1
17:00	09:00	1g 42s 25c	94s	12	1.130	2
18:00	10:00	1g 21s 50c	79s 50c	11	1.096	2
19:00	11:00	99s	72s	11	1.164	2
20:00	12:00	44s	44s	5	1.122	1
21:00	13:00	29s	22s	17	0.741	1
22:00	14:00	96s 75c	72s	7	1.221	2
23:00	15:00	1g	1g	10	0.908	1

Under 1.000 is a cheap hour to buy; over 1.000 a good hour to sell. Days counts how many days that hour was scanned in the window. The same figures as JSON: /v1/timing/forever.normal.alliance.us/11166 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.999	1.031	4
01:00	17:00	0.992	1.055	4
02:00	18:00	0.999	1.119	5
03:00	19:00	0.998	1.158	4
04:00	20:00	0.994	1.182	4
05:00	21:00	1.007	1.211	4
06:00	22:00	1.014	1.255	5
07:00	23:00	0.955	0.998	3
08:00	00:00	0.968	1.133	1
09:00	01:00	0.966	1.140	2
10:00	02:00	0.974	1.077	3
11:00	03:00	0.991	1.040	3
12:00	04:00	1.105	0.795	1
13:00	05:00	0.985	0.943	1
14:00	06:00	1.009	0.896	4
15:00	07:00	1.000	0.848	3
16:00	08:00	1.046	0.809	2
17:00	09:00	0.999	0.833	4
18:00	10:00	0.990	0.847	4
19:00	11:00	1.018	0.869	3
20:00	12:00	0.982	0.936	3
21:00	13:00	0.987	0.947	3
22:00	14:00	1.028	0.908	4
23:00	15:00	0.994	0.970	2

Each hour is indexed against the 24 hours around it, item by item across the market's largest positions, then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. For the day-of-week pattern, see market structure.

▸How this is worked out

Every hourly price is divided by the same item's average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting over the month does not make one end of the day look dear. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest; the spread buys at the cheap window's lowest buyout and sells at the dear window's typical price less the cut. Forever's history restarts at launch, so a live market's pattern never includes beta scans.

Common questions

What is the best time of day to buy and sell Formula: Enchant Gloves - Skinning?: On Normal Alliance US, Formula: Enchant Gloves - Skinning is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 360% after the 5 percent cut.
How is the hour-of-day pattern worked out?: Every hourly price is divided by the same item’s average over the 24 hours around it, so a price drifting up or down over the month does not make one end of the day look dear, and the 24 hours are then centred so an average hour reads 1.000. The best buy window is the cheapest run of three hours and the best sell window the dearest. Hours are UTC, with the hour on the wall in the zone most of the market’s players keep beside them.
How much history does the pattern need?: Each hour of the day needs a few days of scans behind it before its figure means anything. The confidence line reads the thinnest hour: settled from ten days of scans, provisional from three, too early under that, and no pattern at all while fewer than half the hours have been scanned. Scanning Normal Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.