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, Martyr's Chain is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 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 150% 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

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

17:00 to 20:00 CET · index 0.805 · typical 3g 87s 33c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 CET · index 1.208 · typical 7g 28s 11c

Spread after the 5% cut

+150%

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

Martyr's Chainby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
01:00	02:00	6g 40s	2g 65s	12	0.994	2
02:00	03:00	6g 16s 50c	5g 90s	13	1.001	2
03:00	04:00	6g 16s 50c	5g 90s	13	1.039	2
04:00	05:00	3g 66s	3g 37s	14	1.034	2
05:00	06:00	10g 41s	9g 90s	3	1.405	1
06:00	07:00	5g 71s 67c	5g 54s 67c	7	1.114	3
07:00	08:00	5g 71s 67c	5g 54s 67c	5	1.105	3
08:00	09:00	5g 71s 67c	5g 39s 67c	5	1.112	3
09:00	10:00	4g 54s 67c	3g 73s	6	0.958	3
10:00	11:00	3g 88s	3g 38s	8	0.855	3
11:00	12:00	3g 60s	3g 35s	7	0.809	2
12:00	13:00	2g 19s 67c	1g 75s	11	0.786	1
13:00	14:00	5g 87s	5g 40s 33c	5	0.890	3
14:00	15:00	3g 60s	3g 10s	7	0.845	2
15:00	16:00	3g 15s	2g 90s	7	0.784	2
16:00	17:00	5g 57s	2g 76s 67c	5	0.873	3
17:00	18:00	3g 15s	2g 90s	6	0.787	2
18:00	19:00	2g 90s	2g 65s	6	0.755	2
19:00	20:00	4g 38s 21c	3g 18s	5	1.221	2
20:00	21:00	4g 45s 50c	4g 19s 50c	8	1.272	2
21:00	22:00	3g 50s	3g 40s	9	1.005	1
22:00	23:00	6g 22s 33c	3g 10s 67c	10	1.198	3
23:00	00:00	3g 96s 17c	3g 64s 50c	12	1.157	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.pvp.alliance.eu/3416 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 Martyr's Chain?: On PvP Alliance EU, Martyr's Chain is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 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 150% 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.