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, Onyx Claymore is cheapest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 90% 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

12:00 to 15:00 UTC

04:00 to 07:00 Pacific · index 0.845 · typical 1g 90s 56c

Best hours to sell

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 1.143 · typical 3g 42s 54c

Spread after the 5% cut

+90%

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.

Onyx Claymoreby hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 47s 44c	3g 9s 33c	10	1.164	3
01:00	17:00	3g 14s 50c	3g 13s 50c	12	1.065	2
02:00	18:00	3g 14s 50c	2g 90s	11	1.074	2
03:00	19:00	4g 98s	4g 49s	15	1.121	1
04:00	20:00	3g 14s	2g 89s 50c	13	1.051	2
05:00	21:00	2g 94s 33c	1g 98s 67c	14	1.046	3
06:00	22:00	2g 17s 25c	1g 40s	6	1.016	2
07:00	23:00	2g 65s	2g 22s 50c	15	0.828	2
08:00	00:00	2g 50s 17c	1g 90s	11	0.879	3
09:00	01:00	2g 70s 50c	2g 20s	12	0.840	2
10:00	02:00	2g 65s	1g 75s 50c	14	0.867	2
11:00	03:00	3g 25s	2g 95s	5	1.047	2
12:00	04:00	1g 45s	1g 35s	7	0.680	2
13:00	05:00	1g 80s	1g 39s	8	1.049	1
14:00	06:00	2g 46s 67c	2g 39s 67c	4	0.807	3
16:00	08:00	1g 40s	1g 2s	10	0.837	1
17:00	09:00	1g 40s	1g 2s	11	0.846	1
18:00	10:00	3g 20s	3g 15s	5	1.120	2
19:00	11:00	3g 70s	3g 63s	3	1.164	3
20:00	12:00	3g 2s 50c	2g 87s	5	1.106	2
21:00	13:00	3g 61s	3g 46s	5	1.128	3
22:00	14:00	3g 61s 17c	3g 16s 33c	8	1.156	3
23:00	15:00	3g 19s	3g 14s 50c	8	1.108	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/3417 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 Onyx Claymore?: On Normal Horde US, Onyx Claymore is cheapest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 90% 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.