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, Rumsey Rum Dark is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 180% after the 5 percent cut.

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

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 Pacific · index 0.666 · typical 1s 76c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 1.311 · typical 5s 9c

Spread after the 5% cut

+180%

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

Rumsey Rum Darkby hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3s 1c	2s 82c	43	0.717	3
01:00	17:00	2s 11c	1s 20c	46	0.893	2
02:00	18:00	1s 28c	1s 25c	46	0.636	2
03:00	19:00	1s 28c	1s 28c	44	0.639	2
04:00	20:00	2s 71c	2s 66c	40	0.724	3
05:00	21:00	3s 50c	2s 43c	41	1.012	4
06:00	22:00	5s 59c	4s 67c	44	1.564	4
07:00	23:00	6s 19c	5s 42c	43	1.355	5
08:00	00:00	4s 69c	4s 28c	38	1.009	4
09:00	01:00	4s 62c	4s 31c	35	0.995	4
10:00	02:00	5s 50c	4s 68c	45	1.216	5
11:00	03:00	2s 58c	2s 17c	48	0.915	3
12:00	04:00	7s 50c	3s 13c	32	1.095	2
13:00	05:00	5s 38c	2s 37c	39	1.021	3
14:00	06:00	4s 44c	4s 25c	35	1.033	4
15:00	07:00	4s 38c	4s 36c	18	1.051	3
16:00	08:00	4s 35c	4s 27c	28	1.030	4
17:00	09:00	4s 32c	3s 38c	28	1.018	4
18:00	10:00	5s 36c	3s 90c	40	1.111	3
19:00	11:00	5s 34c	3s 64c	43	1.139	3
20:00	12:00	4s 29c	3s 2c	33	0.929	3
21:00	13:00	5s 19c	4s 2c	33	1.121	2
22:00	14:00	3s 90c	3s 43c	49	0.997	3
23:00	15:00	3s 1c	2s 82c	52	0.778	4

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/21114 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 Rumsey Rum Dark?: On PvP Alliance US, Rumsey Rum Dark is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 180% 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 PvP Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.