Forecasted rates are based on the actual history of the rate in the lane being searched combined with DAT's past forecasting of it. DAT uses the median average error (MAE) to determine the accuracy of past forecasts in order to display the current forecasted rate.
Consider the following example:
In this example we are forecasting two days ahead to see what the expected rate will be. According to Ratecast, it is forecasted to be $2.43. The upper end of the range is $2.48, which is the median average error, or MAE, of past forecasts. The lower end of this range is $2.39, which is also the MAE of past forecasts. Using that information, the median is formed and the forecasted rate can be provided in the most accurate way.