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 Horde 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 Horde US, Melon Juice is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% after the 5 percent cut.

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

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 0.799 · typical 1s 59c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 1.105 · typical 2s 21c

Spread after the 5% cut

+55%

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 1 day of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Melon Juiceby hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	2s 65c	2s 44c	42	1.156	4
01:00	17:00	1s 44c	1s 14c	55	1.089	2
02:00	18:00	2s 54c	2s 11c	38	1.071	3
03:00	19:00	1s 10c	1s	52	1.019	1
04:00	20:00	2s 62c	1s 44c	35	1.099	3
05:00	21:00	1s 57c	1s 33c	68	0.992	3
06:00	22:00	1s 65c	1s 50c	82	0.918	2
07:00	23:00	1s 13c	93c	92	0.898	2
08:00	00:00	1s 42c	1s 15c	91	0.938	3
09:00	01:00	1s 91c	1s 79c	65	1.318	3
10:00	02:00	1s 48c	1s 28c	94	1.014	2
11:00	03:00	2s 63c	2s 52c	40	0.930	3
12:00	04:00	1s 66c	1s 49c	65	0.832	3
13:00	05:00	1s 85c	1s 50c	52	0.786	2
14:00	06:00	1s 93c	1s 71c	43	0.806	4
15:00	07:00	1s	85c	27	0.805	1
16:00	08:00	1s 65c	1s	108	0.964	1
17:00	09:00	1s 65c	1s	81	0.975	1
18:00	10:00	2s 58c	2s 34c	40	1.091	3
19:00	11:00	2s 67c	2s 53c	33	1.086	4
20:00	12:00	2s 69c	2s 39c	25	1.115	4
21:00	13:00	1s 88c	1s 59c	51	1.026	3
22:00	14:00	1s 82c	1s 51c	57	1.033	3
23:00	15:00	1s 39c	1s 3c	58	1.040	2

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.horde.us/1205 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.991	1.028	4
01:00	17:00	1.004	1.005	3
02:00	18:00	0.999	1.030	4
03:00	19:00	1.006	1.060	2
04:00	20:00	0.986	1.128	4
05:00	21:00	0.988	1.185	4
06:00	22:00	0.989	1.081	3
07:00	23:00	0.981	1.300	3
08:00	00:00	0.974	1.290	3
09:00	01:00	1.212	1.051	3
10:00	02:00	1.002	1.214	2
11:00	03:00	1.044	0.967	3
12:00	04:00	0.989	0.991	3
13:00	05:00	1.026	0.877	2
14:00	06:00	0.983	0.884	4
15:00	07:00	0.957	0.855	2
16:00	08:00	0.992	0.839	1
17:00	09:00	0.978	0.854	1
18:00	10:00	0.953	0.903	3
19:00	11:00	0.983	0.798	4
20:00	12:00	1.004	0.738	4
21:00	13:00	0.987	0.935	3
22:00	14:00	0.988	0.967	3
23:00	15:00	0.982	1.019	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 Melon Juice?: On Normal Horde US, Melon Juice is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% 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 Horde US through the night fills the gaps.