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, Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 6 is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 53% 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

15:00 to 18:00 UTC

07:00 to 10:00 Pacific · index 0.777 · typical 13s 66c

Best hours to sell

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 1.297 · typical 21s 95c

Spread after the 5% cut

+53%

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.

Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 6by hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	23s 98c	23s 49c	40	1.038	3
01:00	17:00	11s 98c	10s 75c	61	1.022	2
02:00	18:00	11s 98c	10s 75c	73	1.032	2
03:00	19:00	8s 97c	7s	93	1.097	1
04:00	20:00	11s 49c	10s 25c	77	1.014	2
05:00	21:00	23s 33c	22s 48c	55	1.125	3
06:00	22:00	31s	26s	36	1.234	2
07:00	23:00	10s 73c	8s	82	0.945	2
08:00	00:00	21s 81c	13s 74c	68	1.121	3
09:00	01:00	27s 32c	23s 83c	48	1.791	3
10:00	02:00	16s 72c	11s 50c	58	0.979	2
11:00	03:00	25s 99c	15s 99c	26	1.109	1
12:00	04:00	12s 50c	10s 54c	47	0.703	2
13:00	05:00	15s 99c	15s 99c	27	0.751	1
14:00	06:00	41s 66c	41s 66c	28	0.998	3
15:00	07:00	8s 99c	8s 98c	59	0.763	1
16:00	08:00	15s 99c	15s 99c	22	0.777	1
17:00	09:00	15s 99c	15s 99c	15	0.790	1
18:00	10:00	12s 49c	11s 99c	29	0.826	2
19:00	11:00	12s 48c	12s 48c	25	0.874	2
20:00	12:00	12s 49c	12s 48c	19	0.893	2
21:00	13:00	36s 9c	24s 65c	29	1.118	3
22:00	14:00	24s 81c	23s 98c	34	1.000	3
23:00	15:00	11s 98c	11s 49c	62	0.999	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/2730 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 Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 6?: On Normal Horde US, Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 6 is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 53% 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.