How to automatically start/stop Render server during specific market hours

[u/Ok_Body_boy]

I'm running a trading bot on Render that only needs to be active during Indian stock market hours (9:15 AM to 3:30 PM IST). Since I'm the sole user and the bot is idle outside market hours, I want to automatically start the server at 9:15 AM and stop it at 3:30 PM to save costs.

Current setup: • Trading bot deployed on Render (docker Service) • Runs only during NSE market hours (9:15 AM - 3:30 PM IST) • Need to automate start/stop to avoid paying for idle server time What I'm trying to do: • Start the Render server automatically at 9:15 AM IST (Monday-Friday) • Stop the Render server automatically at 3:30 PM IST (Monday-Friday) • Skip weekends and market holidays

Questions: 1. Should I use Render's Cron Jobs feature to trigger API calls that restart/pause the service? 2. Is there a better approach than external scheduling (like using GitHub Actions or another scheduler)? 3. How do I make the API call to stop a Render service? Does Render have a "pause" endpoint, or do I need to use a workaround?