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, Lambent Scale Bracers is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 CET) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 53% 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

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

11:00 to 14:00 CET · index 0.936 · typical 13s 27c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 CET · index 1.080 · typical 21s 11c

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 2 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Lambent Scale Bracersby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	28s 50c	28s	13	1.102	2
01:00	02:00	21s 40c	21s 25c	17	1.048	4
02:00	03:00	13s	13s	23	0.976	4
03:00	04:00	14s 50c	13s 50c	19	1.000	2
04:00	05:00	11s 67c	11s 67c	19	0.954	3
05:00	06:00	21s 33c	19s 50c	13	1.078	4
06:00	07:00	21s 50c	19s 75c	17	1.079	4
07:00	08:00	20s 50c	18s 75c	15	1.084	4
08:00	09:00	17s 90c	17s 60c	13	1.020	5
09:00	10:00	17s 60c	14s	15	1.001	5
10:00	11:00	14s	13s 60c	17	0.905	5
11:00	12:00	13s 80c	13s 60c	18	0.903	5
12:00	13:00	12s	12s	21	1.000	3
13:00	14:00	13s 60c	13s	21	0.912	5
14:00	15:00	12s 50c	12s 25c	24	0.997	4
15:00	16:00	12s 54c	12s	24	1.003	4
16:00	17:00	13s 60c	12s 60c	24	0.937	5
17:00	18:00	12s 35c	11s 50c	27	0.995	4
18:00	19:00	12s 25c	12s	26	0.992	4
19:00	20:00	12s 33c	11s 75c	21	1.001	4
20:00	21:00	12s 67c	11s 67c	22	1.005	3
21:00	22:00	12s 50c	11s 50c	25	1.002	2
22:00	23:00	14s	13s 33c	21	0.980	3
23:00	00:00	20s 36c	20s	15	1.025	4

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/3212 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.954	1.074	2
01:00	02:00	0.981	1.053	5
02:00	03:00	1.008	1.060	5
03:00	04:00	1.015	1.043	2
04:00	05:00	1.015	0.928	4
05:00	06:00	1.020	0.821	4
06:00	07:00	1.021	0.832	5
07:00	08:00	1.024	0.791	6
08:00	09:00	1.027	0.784	6
09:00	10:00	1.013	0.802	6
10:00	11:00	1.033	0.827	6
11:00	12:00	1.015	0.848	6
12:00	13:00	1.002	0.931	4
13:00	14:00	1.007	0.944	5
14:00	15:00	1.025	0.970	5
15:00	16:00	0.994	1.049	5
16:00	17:00	0.973	1.125	6
17:00	18:00	0.978	1.186	5
18:00	19:00	0.971	1.232	4
19:00	20:00	0.972	1.224	5
20:00	21:00	0.967	1.168	3
21:00	22:00	0.965	1.158	2
22:00	23:00	0.995	1.107	3
23:00	00:00	1.024	1.041	4

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 Lambent Scale Bracers?: On PvP Alliance EU, Lambent Scale Bracers is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 CET) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET). 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 PvP Alliance EU through the night fills the gaps.