When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 06:00 UTC (22:00 Pacific), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 5.3% over. The pattern is read from the hourly price of the market's largest positions over the last few weeks, each hour against the day around it.

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 Horde 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 Horde US, Amethyst Band is cheapest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 125% after the 5 percent cut.

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

23:00 to 02:00 UTC

15:00 to 18:00 Pacific · index 0.905 · typical 1g 37s 42c

Best hours to sell

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 1.079 · typical 2g 2s 13c

Spread after the 5% cut

+125%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 3 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Amethyst Bandby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	1g 35s 69c	65s 50c	33	0.919	4
01:00	17:00	1g 10s 16c	79s	29	0.873	3
02:00	18:00	1g 73s 10c	1g 19s 80c	23	0.972	5
03:00	19:00	2g 16s 76c	1g 31s 25c	31	1.067	4
04:00	20:00	2g 4s 30c	1g 27s 50c	39	1.005	4
05:00	21:00	1g 82s 78c	66s 67c	54	1.072	3
06:00	22:00	2g 11s 61c	1g 25s	45	1.078	4
07:00	23:00	1g 72s 67c	63s 33c	56	1.022	3
08:00	00:00	1g 96s 88c	1g 18s 75c	40	0.993	4
09:00	01:00	1g 97s 75c	1g 14s 50c	41	1.027	4
10:00	02:00	2g 3s 50c	1g 18s 50c	47	1.079	4
11:00	03:00	2g 1s 45c	1g 19s 75c	44	1.077	4
12:00	04:00	2g 1s 45c	1g 19s 75c	46	1.082	4
13:00	05:00	1g 95s 9c	1g 19s 75c	44	1.048	4
14:00	06:00	1g 89s 89c	1g 17s	40	1.011	4
15:00	07:00	1g 86s 5c	94s 50c	41	0.998	4
16:00	08:00	1g 91s 50c	89s 50c	42	1.048	4
17:00	09:00	1g 85s 44c	99s	38	0.966	3
18:00	10:00	2g 8s 57c	1g 48s 50c	30	0.953	4
19:00	11:00	1g 78s 85c	1g 17s 20c	25	0.970	5
20:00	12:00	1g 79s 78c	1g 19s 40c	25	0.978	5
21:00	13:00	1g 70s 35c	1g 19s 40c	26	0.937	5
22:00	14:00	1g 93s	1g 31s	31	0.898	4
23:00	15:00	1g 66s 40c	1g 12s	27	0.924	5

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.horde.us/11971 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.984	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.023	0.978	4
02:00	18:00	1.037	0.937	6
03:00	19:00	1.023	1.012	6
04:00	20:00	0.980	1.059	6
05:00	21:00	0.972	1.088	4
06:00	22:00	0.966	1.127	6
07:00	23:00	1.012	1.120	4
08:00	00:00	1.040	1.060	5
09:00	01:00	1.053	1.022	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.064	6
11:00	03:00	0.993	1.037	6
12:00	04:00	0.993	1.033	6
13:00	05:00	0.991	1.018	6
14:00	06:00	0.994	1.011	6
15:00	07:00	0.995	0.999	5
16:00	08:00	0.995	0.972	6
17:00	09:00	0.993	0.873	5
18:00	10:00	1.038	0.877	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.898	5
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.936	5
21:00	13:00	0.978	0.963	5
22:00	14:00	0.970	0.921	4
23:00	15:00	0.977	0.979	5

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

When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?: Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 06:00 UTC (22:00 Pacific), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 5.3% over. The pattern is read from the hourly price of the market's largest positions over the last few weeks, each hour against the day around it.
What is the best time of day to buy and sell Amethyst Band?: On PvP Horde US, Amethyst Band is cheapest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 125% 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 Horde US through the night fills the gaps.