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 Watcher's Gloves is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 35% 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

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 Pacific · index 0.806 · typical 41s 32c

Best hours to sell

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 1.159 · typical 51s

Spread after the 5% cut

+35%

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.

Thendal Watcher's Glovesby hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	44s 40c	41s 20c	4	0.960	5
01:00	17:00	35s 80c	31s	5	0.880	5
02:00	18:00	48s 67c	43s 33c	4	1.041	6
03:00	19:00	56s 79c	52s 50c	5	1.027	6
04:00	20:00	52s 50c	51s 67c	5	0.962	6
05:00	21:00	46s 11c	35s	4	0.869	7
06:00	22:00	40s 29c	31s 43c	4	0.887	7
07:00	23:00	40s 40c	39s 40c	3	0.965	5
08:00	00:00	42s	40s 60c	6	0.993	5
09:00	01:00	10s	10s	2	1.021	1
10:00	02:00	47s 50c	28s 75c	3	1.153	4
11:00	03:00	45s 50c	45s	3	1.156	4
12:00	04:00	60s	55s	4	1.168	5
13:00	05:00	56s 25c	56s 25c	5	0.945	4
14:00	06:00	48s 33c	45s 83c	4	1.100	6
15:00	07:00	45s	43s 80c	4	0.935	5
16:00	08:00	50s	46s	5	1.179	4
17:00	09:00	41s 83c	36s 20c	4	1.160	5
18:00	10:00	41s 21c	31s 43c	4	1.081	7
19:00	11:00	46s 61c	40s 17c	4	1.220	6
20:00	12:00	45s	38s	5	0.841	5
21:00	13:00	43s 97c	35s 80c	5	0.826	5
22:00	14:00	35s	34s 25c	5	0.750	4
23:00	15:00	45s 33c	43s 40c	5	0.880	5

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/285255 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.975	1.050	7
01:00	17:00	0.990	1.074	8
02:00	18:00	0.992	1.072	8
03:00	19:00	1.003	1.064	8
04:00	20:00	0.991	1.136	8
05:00	21:00	0.982	1.136	8
06:00	22:00	0.976	1.136	8
07:00	23:00	0.995	0.948	6
08:00	00:00	1.010	1.216	5
09:00	01:00	0.987	1.149	2
10:00	02:00	1.081	1.010	5
11:00	03:00	1.006	0.992	5
12:00	04:00	0.990	0.959	5
13:00	05:00	1.013	0.891	5
14:00	06:00	0.991	0.885	8
15:00	07:00	0.991	0.860	6
16:00	08:00	1.006	0.853	5
17:00	09:00	1.004	0.853	7
18:00	10:00	0.994	0.894	8
19:00	11:00	1.034	0.870	7
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.977	7
21:00	13:00	0.984	1.001	7
22:00	14:00	0.985	1.006	7
23:00	15:00	1.025	0.967	6

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 Watcher's Gloves?: On Normal Alliance US, Thendal Watcher's Gloves is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 35% 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.