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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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, Fen Ring is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 139% 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

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 0.851 · typical 1g 52s 56c

Best hours to sell

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 Pacific · index 1.329 · typical 2g 64s 73c

Spread after the 5% cut

+139%

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.

Fen Ringby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	1g 51s 92c	53s 33c	35	1.124	3
01:00	17:00	1g 60s 70c	52s 50c	31	1.159	2
02:00	18:00	1g 69s 8c	94s 50c	25	1.020	4
03:00	19:00	1g 57s 50c	94s 50c	27	0.941	4
04:00	20:00	1g 48s 70c	94s 50c	31	0.882	4
05:00	21:00	1g 15s	46s 67c	41	0.883	3
06:00	22:00	1g 54s 59c	93s 25c	35	0.945	4
07:00	23:00	1g 16s	36s 67c	48	0.888	3
08:00	00:00	2g 25c	1g 33s 25c	30	1.130	4
09:00	01:00	1g 51s 30c	77s 25c	30	0.961	4
10:00	02:00	1g 35s 50c	83s 50c	33	0.880	4
11:00	03:00	1g 36s 15c	83s 50c	34	0.904	4
12:00	04:00	1g 36s 10c	77s 50c	35	0.911	4
13:00	05:00	1g 67s 19c	1g 20s 60c	24	0.850	5
14:00	06:00	1g 65s 74c	1g 20s 60c	23	0.853	5
15:00	07:00	1g 24s 76c	74s 25c	28	0.849	4
16:00	08:00	1g 40s 67c	90s 67c	25	0.947	3
17:00	09:00	1g 44s 22c	90s 33c	26	0.988	3
18:00	10:00	1g 30s 69c	85s	31	0.896	3
19:00	11:00	1g 37s 9c	85s	31	0.957	3
20:00	12:00	1g 56s 11c	55s	33	1.119	3
21:00	13:00	4g 67c	3g 27s	27	1.640	4
22:00	14:00	2g 37s 42c	1g 7s	25	1.229	4
23:00	15:00	1g 77s 26c	1g 5s 75c	27	1.044	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.horde.us/12010 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.988	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.022	0.985	4
02:00	18:00	1.030	0.942	6
03:00	19:00	1.019	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.979	1.075	6
05:00	21:00	0.975	1.091	4
06:00	22:00	0.972	1.131	6
07:00	23:00	1.011	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.028	1.075	5
09:00	01:00	1.042	1.033	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.081	6
11:00	03:00	0.994	1.055	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.056	6
13:00	05:00	0.990	1.050	6
14:00	06:00	0.997	1.043	6
15:00	07:00	1.003	0.925	4
16:00	08:00	1.008	0.865	5
17:00	09:00	0.995	0.877	5
18:00	10:00	1.031	0.875	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.894	5
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.934	5
21:00	13:00	0.979	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.969	0.919	4
23:00	15:00	0.978	0.972	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 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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 Fen Ring?: On PvP Horde US, Fen Ring is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 139% 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.