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 PvP 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 PvP Alliance US, Ironweaver is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.

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

15:00 to 18:00 UTC

07:00 to 10:00 Pacific · index 0.926 · typical 4g 96s 30c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 1.073 · typical 4g 61s 83c

Spread after the 5% cut

-9%

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.

Ironweaverby hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 65s	3g 64s	10	0.985	2
01:00	17:00	3g 65s	3g 58s 50c	11	0.987	2
02:00	18:00	3g 52s 50c	2g 47s 50c	10	0.971	2
03:00	19:00	3g 62s 50c	3g 39s	9	1.012	2
04:00	20:00	3g 40s	3g	12	0.970	2
05:00	21:00	4g 75s 83c	4g 66s 33c	8	1.042	3
06:00	22:00	4g 76s 33c	4g 26s	6	1.070	3
07:00	23:00	4g 33s 33c	4g 25s	8	1.106	3
08:00	00:00	4g 75s	4g 12s	9	1.013	2
09:00	01:00	4g 75s	4g 10s	8	1.014	2
10:00	02:00	3g 97s 25c	3g 97s 25c	4	0.940	4
11:00	03:00	4g 62s 50c	3g 60s	8	1.033	2
13:00	05:00	6g 94s 50c	6g 54s	4	1.078	2
14:00	06:00	5g 96s 33c	5g 69s	4	1.014	3
15:00	07:00	3g 60s	3g 59s 50c	5	0.867	2
16:00	08:00	5g 69s 33c	5g 52s 67c	5	0.962	3
17:00	09:00	5g 59s 56c	5g 33s	6	0.950	3
18:00	10:00	6g 94s 50c	6g 94s 50c	2	1.013	2
19:00	11:00	6g 94s 50c	6g 94s 50c	2	1.046	2
20:00	12:00	3g 34s 50c	3g 15s	10	0.881	2
21:00	13:00	5g	5g	1	1.136	1
22:00	14:00	6g 19s	6g 19s	2	0.982	2
23:00	15:00	4g 93s 89c	4g 84s 33c	9	0.931	3

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.pvp.alliance.us/13137 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.025	0.959	4
01:00	17:00	1.082	0.840	3
02:00	18:00	0.993	1.061	3
03:00	19:00	1.011	1.016	3
04:00	20:00	0.995	1.074	4
05:00	21:00	1.000	1.092	5
06:00	22:00	1.020	1.143	4
07:00	23:00	1.001	1.194	5
08:00	00:00	1.011	1.116	4
09:00	01:00	0.987	1.133	4
10:00	02:00	1.014	1.059	5
11:00	03:00	0.999	1.090	3
12:00	04:00	1.014	0.987	2
13:00	05:00	0.990	0.984	3
14:00	06:00	0.995	0.984	4
15:00	07:00	0.973	0.963	3
16:00	08:00	0.972	0.938	4
17:00	09:00	0.974	0.888	4
18:00	10:00	0.977	0.935	3
19:00	11:00	0.993	0.902	3
20:00	12:00	0.984	0.913	3
21:00	13:00	0.992	0.839	2
22:00	14:00	0.998	0.927	3
23:00	15:00	1.003	0.962	4

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 Ironweaver?: On PvP Alliance US, Ironweaver is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.
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 PvP Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.