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 EU 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 EU, Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Pants is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 228% after the 5 percent cut.

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

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

18:00 to 21:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 CET · index 0.745 · typical 17s 15c

Best hours to sell

04:00 to 07:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 CET · index 1.407 · typical 57s 42c

Spread after the 5% cut

+228%

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.

Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Pantsby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	50s	40s	10	1.200	1
01:00	02:00	26s 33c	22s 67c	20	1.051	3
02:00	03:00	14s 50c	14s	23	0.999	2
03:00	04:00	14s 50c	14s	22	1.007	2
04:00	05:00	95s 50c	56s	18	1.940	2
05:00	06:00	30s 50c	28s	9	1.097	2
06:00	07:00	46s 25c	41s 75c	12	1.185	4
07:00	08:00	46s 25c	41s 75c	11	1.160	4
08:00	09:00	39s 50c	22s	12	1.007	4
09:00	10:00	39s 50c	32s	11	0.983	4
10:00	11:00	42s	31s 75c	13	1.063	4
11:00	12:00	39s 50c	30s 50c	14	0.972	4
12:00	13:00	12s	10s	16	1.003	1
13:00	14:00	19s	15s	13	0.977	3
14:00	15:00	13s	13s	14	0.983	2
15:00	16:00	13s	12s 50c	19	0.990	2
16:00	17:00	17s	13s 33c	17	0.808	3
17:00	18:00	13s	12s 50c	15	0.777	2
18:00	19:00	13s	13s	17	0.730	2
19:00	20:00	25s 44c	25s 33c	9	0.826	3
20:00	21:00	13s	11s 50c	16	0.678	2
21:00	22:00	14s	13s	20	1.030	1
22:00	23:00	14s	12s	18	0.704	3
23:00	00:00	25s	24s 33c	9	0.828	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.eu/252796 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.999	1.123	1
01:00	02:00	1.013	1.062	4
02:00	03:00	1.056	1.023	3
03:00	04:00	1.032	1.017	2
04:00	05:00	1.041	1.000	3
05:00	06:00	1.055	0.794	2
06:00	07:00	1.023	0.843	5
07:00	08:00	1.042	0.789	5
08:00	09:00	1.026	0.838	5
09:00	10:00	1.015	0.882	5
10:00	11:00	1.031	0.913	5
11:00	12:00	0.983	1.040	5
12:00	13:00	0.977	0.873	2
13:00	14:00	0.985	1.003	3
14:00	15:00	0.982	1.004	3
15:00	16:00	0.975	1.048	3
16:00	17:00	0.966	1.074	4
17:00	18:00	0.962	1.087	3
18:00	19:00	0.952	1.128	2
19:00	20:00	1.002	1.025	3
20:00	21:00	0.962	1.153	2
21:00	22:00	0.954	1.066	1
22:00	23:00	0.961	1.143	3
23:00	00:00	1.005	1.075	3

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 Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Pants?: On PvP Alliance EU, Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Pants is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 228% 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 EU through the night fills the gaps.