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 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 PvP Alliance US, Stringy Vulture Meat is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 3% after the 5 percent cut.

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

15:00 to 18:00 UTC

07:00 to 10:00 Pacific · index 0.831 · typical 3s 32c

Best hours to sell

23:00 to 02:00 UTC

15:00 to 18:00 Pacific · index 1.154 · typical 3s 8c

Spread after the 5% cut

+3%

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.

Stringy Vulture Meatby hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3s 25c	2s 57c	130	1.152	3
01:00	17:00	2s 71c	2s 38c	69	1.176	3
02:00	18:00	1s 75c	1s 63c	103	0.801	3
03:00	19:00	3s 14c	2s 95c	91	1.025	3
04:00	20:00	2s 97c	2s 55c	147	1.085	3
05:00	21:00	4s 57c	4s 24c	104	1.205	5
06:00	22:00	2s 97c	2s 32c	134	1.058	4
07:00	23:00	4s 31c	3s 82c	138	1.133	5
08:00	00:00	4s 95c	4s 1c	129	1.189	4
09:00	01:00	3s 87c	3s 28c	161	0.968	4
10:00	02:00	3s 47c	2s 92c	141	1.004	5
11:00	03:00	2s 56c	2s 5c	213	0.857	3
12:00	04:00	4s 82c	3s 53c	148	0.982	2
13:00	05:00	3s 41c	2s 66c	179	0.816	3
14:00	06:00	3s 17c	1s 71c	170	0.833	4
15:00	07:00	3s 59c	2s 94c	165	0.849	3
16:00	08:00	3s 32c	2s 77c	157	0.839	4
17:00	09:00	3s 6c	2s 82c	141	0.805	4
18:00	10:00	3s 72c	3s 56c	106	0.895	3
19:00	11:00	3s 64c	2s 78c	114	0.898	3
20:00	12:00	3s 64c	3s 35c	74	1.168	3
21:00	13:00	4s 36c	3s 96c	73	1.091	2
22:00	14:00	3s 72c	3s 32c	92	1.037	3
23:00	15:00	3s 29c	2s 64c	98	1.134	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.us/729 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.025	0.959	4
01:00	17:00	1.082	0.840	3
02:00	18:00	0.993	1.061	3
03:00	19:00	1.011	1.016	3
04:00	20:00	0.995	1.074	4
05:00	21:00	1.000	1.092	5
06:00	22:00	1.020	1.143	4
07:00	23:00	1.001	1.194	5
08:00	00:00	1.011	1.116	4
09:00	01:00	0.987	1.133	4
10:00	02:00	1.014	1.059	5
11:00	03:00	0.999	1.090	3
12:00	04:00	1.014	0.987	2
13:00	05:00	0.990	0.984	3
14:00	06:00	0.995	0.984	4
15:00	07:00	0.973	0.963	3
16:00	08:00	0.972	0.938	4
17:00	09:00	0.974	0.888	4
18:00	10:00	0.977	0.935	3
19:00	11:00	0.993	0.902	3
20:00	12:00	0.984	0.913	3
21:00	13:00	0.992	0.839	2
22:00	14:00	0.998	0.927	3
23:00	15:00	1.003	0.962	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 Stringy Vulture Meat?: On PvP Alliance US, Stringy Vulture Meat is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 3% 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 US through the night fills the gaps.