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: Wisdom's Leather Helm is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 CET) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 210% 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

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 CET · index 0.830 · typical 19s 24c

Best hours to sell

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

10:00 to 13:00 CET · index 1.251 · typical 54s 75c

Spread after the 5% cut

+210%

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: Wisdom's Leather Helmby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	1g 44s	1g 44s	4	1.049	1
01:00	02:00	68s	66s	20	0.964	3
02:00	03:00	29s 50c	27s	25	0.970	2
03:00	04:00	29s 50c	26s	24	1.009	2
04:00	05:00	11s 50c	10s 50c	14	0.833	2
05:00	06:00	94s	93s	14	1.125	2
06:00	07:00	52s 75c	51s 75c	11	1.004	4
07:00	08:00	52s 38c	49s 25c	10	1.005	4
08:00	09:00	52s 25c	52s	9	1.013	4
09:00	10:00	55s 75c	51s	9	1.252	4
10:00	11:00	55s 50c	48s 50c	13	1.256	4
11:00	12:00	53s	38s 75c	15	1.244	4
12:00	13:00	11s	11s	19	0.970	1
13:00	14:00	48s 67c	35s 33c	21	0.994	3
14:00	15:00	23s	15s 50c	25	1.083	2
15:00	16:00	23s	13s 50c	26	1.117	2
16:00	17:00	40s 33c	31s 33c	23	1.020	3
17:00	18:00	15s 50c	10s 50c	24	0.882	2
18:00	19:00	15s 50c	13s	23	0.903	2
19:00	20:00	15s	13s	19	0.907	2
20:00	21:00	13s 50c	13s	26	0.867	2
21:00	22:00	16s	15s	31	0.744	1
22:00	23:00	28s 22c	22s 33c	28	0.879	3
23:00	00:00	56s 78c	55s 33c	18	0.911	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/252819 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: Wisdom's Leather Helm?: On PvP Alliance EU, Pattern: Wisdom's Leather Helm is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 CET) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 210% 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.