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 25 is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 106% 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

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 Pacific · index 0.894 · typical 9s

Best hours to sell

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 Pacific · index 1.112 · typical 16s 61c

Spread after the 5% cut

+106%

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 25by hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	16s 33c	14s 98c	39	1.018	3
01:00	17:00	11s 75c	10s	61	0.963	2
02:00	18:00	11s 50c	9s 50c	65	0.938	2
03:00	19:00	5s	4s	64	0.821	1
04:00	20:00	10s 50c	9s 45c	68	0.922	2
05:00	21:00	15s 27c	13s 30c	49	0.993	3
06:00	22:00	20s 23c	17s 75c	40	1.074	2
07:00	23:00	9s 45c	7s 25c	75	0.853	2
08:00	00:00	13s 56c	11s 41c	63	0.941	3
09:00	01:00	16s 33c	14s 33c	25	1.132	3
10:00	02:00	14s 50c	12s	30	0.991	2
11:00	03:00	20s	19s	25	0.964	1
12:00	04:00	15s 25c	14s 50c	68	0.932	2
13:00	05:00	20s	19s	29	0.990	1
14:00	06:00	15s 13c	14s	56	0.987	2
15:00	07:00	10s 8c	8s 99c	79	1.025	1
16:00	08:00	20s	20s	16	1.008	1
17:00	09:00	20s	20s	14	1.019	1
18:00	10:00	14s 50c	10s 50c	56	1.035	2
19:00	11:00	14s 50c	13s	51	1.084	2
20:00	12:00	14s 50c	14s	34	1.132	2
21:00	13:00	17s 66c	15s 66c	41	1.077	3
22:00	14:00	17s 66c	15s 67c	37	1.128	3
23:00	15:00	12s	11s 50c	67	0.972	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/2749 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 25?: On Normal Horde US, Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 25 is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 106% 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.