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 Alliance 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 Alliance US, Glyphed Helm is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 Pacific) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 72% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: Normal Alliance US. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/normal/alliance/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

06:00 to 09:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 Pacific · index 0.783 · typical 2g 32s 94c

Best hours to sell

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 Pacific · index 1.300 · typical 3g 73s 78c

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

Glyphed Helmby hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 15s 75c	3g 5s 50c	5	1.015	4
01:00	17:00	3g 49s 33c	3g 41s	3	0.942	3
02:00	18:00	2g 84s 50c	1g 99s 25c	7	0.904	4
03:00	19:00	2g 14s 50c	1g 84s 75c	9	0.733	4
04:00	20:00	2g 32s 67c	1g 83s	10	0.841	3
05:00	21:00	1g 99s 33c	1g 83s	9	0.779	3
06:00	22:00	1g 99s 33c	1g 79s 33c	9	0.807	3
07:00	23:00	2g 49s 50c	2g 23s 50c	11	0.779	2
08:00	00:00	2g 50s	2g 15s	22	0.762	1
09:00	01:00	3g 74s 34c	3g 49s 50c	11	1.286	2
10:00	02:00	3g 74s	3g 49s 50c	11	1.295	2
11:00	03:00	3g 73s	3g 49s 50c	9	1.317	2
13:00	05:00	2g 13s	1g 22s	20	0.862	1
14:00	06:00	4g 83s	4g 57s	6	1.297	3
15:00	07:00	4g 74s 50c	4g 24s 50c	9	1.104	2
16:00	08:00	7g 50s	7g 50s	1	1.177	1
17:00	09:00	4g 3s 17c	3g 89s 67c	5	1.059	3
18:00	10:00	3g 90s 33c	3g 88s	4	1.004	3
19:00	11:00	4g 36s	4g 36s	4	1.045	2
20:00	12:00	2g 10s 50c	2g 10s 50c	7	0.876	2
21:00	13:00	2g 10s 50c	2g 7s	8	0.890	2
22:00	14:00	3g 90s 17c	3g 87s 67c	5	1.099	3
23:00	15:00	4g 74s 50c	4g 24s 50c	3	1.126	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.alliance.us/6422 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.999	1.031	4
01:00	17:00	0.992	1.055	4
02:00	18:00	0.999	1.119	5
03:00	19:00	0.998	1.158	4
04:00	20:00	0.994	1.182	4
05:00	21:00	1.007	1.211	4
06:00	22:00	1.014	1.255	5
07:00	23:00	0.955	0.998	3
08:00	00:00	0.968	1.133	1
09:00	01:00	0.966	1.140	2
10:00	02:00	0.974	1.077	3
11:00	03:00	0.991	1.040	3
12:00	04:00	1.105	0.795	1
13:00	05:00	0.985	0.943	1
14:00	06:00	1.009	0.896	4
15:00	07:00	1.000	0.848	3
16:00	08:00	1.046	0.809	2
17:00	09:00	0.999	0.833	4
18:00	10:00	0.990	0.847	4
19:00	11:00	1.018	0.869	3
20:00	12:00	0.982	0.936	3
21:00	13:00	0.987	0.947	3
22:00	14:00	1.028	0.908	4
23:00	15:00	0.994	0.970	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 Glyphed Helm?: On Normal Alliance US, Glyphed Helm is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 Pacific) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific). 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 Normal Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.