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, Superior Healing Potion is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 CET) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 25% 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

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 CET · index 0.918 · typical 14s 59c

Best hours to sell

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

03:00 to 06:00 CET · index 1.140 · typical 18s 88c

Spread after the 5% cut

+25%

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.

Superior Healing Potionby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	15s 50c	14s 99c	49	1.093	2
01:00	02:00	13s 82c	13s 44c	33	0.979	4
02:00	03:00	20s 97c	17s 41c	50	1.217	4
03:00	04:00	15s 14c	12s 13c	15	1.064	2
04:00	05:00	20s 52c	19s 75c	65	1.140	3
05:00	06:00	14s 42c	12s 26c	30	1.024	4
06:00	07:00	17s 44c	15s 19c	34	1.074	4
07:00	08:00	15s 76c	13s 83c	37	1.017	6
08:00	09:00	15s 71c	13s 46c	42	1.018	6
09:00	10:00	15s 26c	14s 29c	44	0.996	6
10:00	11:00	15s 26c	14s 20c	41	0.998	6
11:00	12:00	14s 90c	12s 77c	39	0.974	6
12:00	13:00	15s 22c	14s 22c	62	0.933	4
13:00	14:00	15s 7c	13s 93c	52	0.977	5
14:00	15:00	15s 14c	13s 67c	47	0.927	4
15:00	16:00	16s 62c	14s 32c	61	0.962	3
16:00	17:00	14s 28c	12s 85c	43	0.962	5
17:00	18:00	15s 45c	14s 23c	56	0.986	4
18:00	19:00	15s 95c	13s 96c	62	0.917	3
19:00	20:00	15s 71c	14s 56c	36	1.002	4
20:00	21:00	15s 79c	15s 30c	46	0.909	3
21:00	22:00	15s	14s 90c	10	1.020	1
22:00	23:00	12s 97c	12s 96c	18	0.824	3
23:00	00:00	15s 29c	14s 93c	35	0.986	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/3928 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.938	1.080	2
01:00	02:00	0.976	1.035	5
02:00	03:00	1.004	1.041	5
03:00	04:00	1.029	1.020	2
04:00	05:00	1.018	0.922	4
05:00	06:00	1.032	0.833	4
06:00	07:00	1.020	0.816	5
07:00	08:00	1.039	0.822	6
08:00	09:00	1.045	0.809	6
09:00	10:00	1.028	0.877	6
10:00	11:00	1.032	0.935	6
11:00	12:00	1.002	1.015	6
12:00	13:00	1.004	1.101	4
13:00	14:00	1.003	0.962	4
14:00	15:00	0.995	0.988	4
15:00	16:00	0.986	1.032	4
16:00	17:00	0.978	1.067	5
17:00	18:00	0.977	1.110	4
18:00	19:00	0.965	1.153	3
19:00	20:00	0.991	1.080	4
20:00	21:00	0.954	1.186	3
21:00	22:00	0.962	1.019	1
22:00	23:00	0.979	1.106	3
23:00	00:00	1.042	0.992	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 Superior Healing Potion?: On PvP Alliance EU, Superior Healing Potion is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 CET) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 25% 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.