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, Headhunting Spear is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 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 54% 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

06:00 to 09:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 Pacific · index 0.887 · typical 2g 24s 75c

Best hours to sell

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 1.056 · typical 3g 36s 17c

Spread after the 5% cut

+54%

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.

Headhunting Spearby hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 7s	2g 83s 33c	9	1.055	3
01:00	17:00	1g 85s 50c	1g 55s	14	0.942	2
02:00	18:00	1g 70s 50c	1g 5s	15	0.908	2
03:00	19:00	1g 21s	1g 10s	11	1.027	1
04:00	20:00	1g 60s 50c	1g 54s 50c	15	0.902	2
05:00	21:00	2g 70s	2g 53s 33c	11	0.968	3
06:00	22:00	2g 99s 75c	2g 75s	11	0.885	2
07:00	23:00	1g 54s 50c	1g 29s	15	0.907	2
08:00	00:00	2g 20s	2g 19s 33c	10	0.869	3
09:00	01:00	2g 72s 33c	2g 71s 67c	6	1.148	3
10:00	02:00	2g 55s	2g 54s	9	0.982	2
11:00	03:00	4g	3g 79s	9	1.036	1
12:00	04:00	2g 75s	2g 62s	11	0.960	2
13:00	05:00	4g	3g 79s	9	1.085	1
14:00	06:00	2g 72s 50c	2g 50s 50c	11	1.018	2
15:00	07:00	1g 45s	1g 22s	12	0.960	1
16:00	08:00	3g 79s	3g 11s	8	1.073	1
17:00	09:00	3g 79s	3g 79s	7	1.095	1
18:00	10:00	2g 50s 50c	2g 45s 50c	11	0.998	2
19:00	11:00	2g 50s 50c	2g 36s	11	1.029	2
20:00	12:00	3g 32s 83c	3g 24s	6	1.061	3
21:00	13:00	3g 27s 17c	3g 7s	8	1.060	3
22:00	14:00	3g 7s 33c	2g 90s 33c	9	1.032	3
23:00	15:00	2g 11s	1g 85s 50c	12	0.998	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/1522 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 Headhunting Spear?: On Normal Horde US, Headhunting Spear is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 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 54% 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.