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 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 Normal Alliance US, Thendal Apprentice's Shirt is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 47% after the 5 percent cut.

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

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 0.886 · typical 35s 22c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 Pacific · index 1.099 · typical 52s 57c

Spread after the 5% cut

+47%

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.

Thendal Apprentice's Shirtby hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	49s 75c	41s 75c	5	0.975	4
01:00	17:00	71s 83c	66s 67c	4	1.215	6
02:00	18:00	42s	38s 13c	4	1.023	8
03:00	19:00	41s 70c	35s	4	0.966	5
04:00	20:00	37s 58c	33s 33c	3	1.047	6
05:00	21:00	34s 67c	34s 17c	3	0.781	6
06:00	22:00	36s 40c	34s 80c	4	0.927	5
07:00	23:00	34s 60c	33s	3	0.950	5
08:00	00:00	12s	12s	3	1.048	2
09:00	01:00	33s 67c	33s	3	0.999	6
10:00	02:00	19s 67c	18s 67c	3	0.839	3
11:00	03:00	38s 50c	36s 25c	3	1.005	4
12:00	04:00	32s 60c	30s 20c	4	0.980	5
13:00	05:00	27s 60c	25s 60c	3	0.911	5
14:00	06:00	42s 83c	40s 50c	3	1.093	6
15:00	07:00	50s 75c	49s 38c	3	1.042	8
16:00	08:00	42s 36c	41s 36c	2	1.048	11
17:00	09:00	36s 97c	35s 40c	3	1.004	10
18:00	10:00	42s 25c	40s 38c	3	0.962	8
19:00	11:00	38s 28c	31s 25c	3	0.866	8
20:00	12:00	39s 81c	29s 63c	4	1.021	8
21:00	13:00	42s 25c	36s 13c	3	1.090	8
22:00	14:00	71s 33c	52s 17c	4	1.137	6
23:00	15:00	44s 14c	32s	3	1.071	7

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.alliance.us/271655 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance US

No Normal Alliance US hourly history in the last 28 days yet. The pattern fills in as players scan through the day. Set up scanning.

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 Thendal Apprentice's Shirt?: On Normal Alliance US, Thendal Apprentice's Shirt is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 47% 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 Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.