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, Forest Leather Bracers is cheapest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 CET) and dearest from 07:00 to 10:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 72% 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

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 CET · index 0.687 · typical 27s 89c

Best hours to sell

07:00 to 10:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 CET · index 1.187 · typical 47s 81c

Spread after the 5% cut

+72%

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.

Forest Leather Bracersby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	99s	99s	5	1.058	1
01:00	02:00	45s 67c	44s 33c	25	0.772	3
02:00	03:00	19s	18s	27	0.639	2
03:00	04:00	19s	17s	22	0.651	2
04:00	05:00	20s 50c	20s 50c	21	0.930	2
05:00	06:00	57s	57s	9	0.795	2
06:00	07:00	38s 75c	38s 50c	16	0.881	4
07:00	08:00	51s 69c	39s 75c	16	1.261	4
08:00	09:00	47s 50c	43s 50c	20	1.188	4
09:00	10:00	44s 25c	33s 25c	26	1.112	4
10:00	11:00	42s 63c	35s 25c	27	1.096	4
11:00	12:00	47s 44c	41s 67c	30	1.100	3
12:00	13:00	22s	20s	18	1.039	1
13:00	14:00	42s 33c	36s 67c	40	1.048	3
14:00	15:00	57s	53s 67c	30	1.112	3
15:00	16:00	57s	52s 33c	32	1.109	3
16:00	17:00	57s 38c	46s 50c	39	1.053	4
17:00	18:00	54s 17c	39s	33	1.056	3
18:00	19:00	28s 50c	19s 50c	45	1.042	2
19:00	20:00	52s 22c	45s 33c	27	1.031	3
20:00	21:00	26s	20s 50c	43	1.002	2
21:00	22:00	30s	10s	33	0.983	1
22:00	23:00	29s 61c	19s 67c	39	0.985	3
23:00	00:00	49s 89c	36s 67c	21	1.057	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/3202 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.996	1.109	1
01:00	02:00	1.008	1.050	4
02:00	03:00	1.044	1.010	3
03:00	04:00	1.032	0.998	2
04:00	05:00	1.037	1.005	3
05:00	06:00	1.065	0.787	2
06:00	07:00	1.026	0.845	5
07:00	08:00	1.040	0.797	5
08:00	09:00	1.022	0.854	5
09:00	10:00	1.015	0.906	5
10:00	11:00	1.044	0.920	5
11:00	12:00	0.998	0.902	4
12:00	13:00	0.985	0.879	2
13:00	14:00	0.991	1.004	3
14:00	15:00	0.989	1.018	3
15:00	16:00	0.984	1.066	3
16:00	17:00	0.968	1.087	4
17:00	18:00	0.959	1.104	3
18:00	19:00	0.959	1.143	2
19:00	20:00	0.995	1.027	3
20:00	21:00	0.950	1.170	2
21:00	22:00	0.944	1.085	1
22:00	23:00	0.949	1.148	3
23:00	00:00	1.000	1.086	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 Forest Leather Bracers?: On PvP Alliance EU, Forest Leather Bracers is cheapest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 CET) and dearest from 07:00 to 10:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 72% 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.