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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 13:00 UTC (05:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.7% 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, Volcanic Rock Ring is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 16% 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

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 0.887 · typical 54s 78c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 1.174 · typical 60s 32c

Spread after the 5% cut

+16%

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.

Volcanic Rock Ringby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	54s 19c	49s	24	0.882	4
01:00	17:00	58s 48c	55s 67c	16	0.900	3
02:00	18:00	51s 68c	44s	18	0.880	5
03:00	19:00	52s 50c	49s 60c	14	0.900	5
04:00	20:00	52s 70c	48s 40c	11	0.915	5
05:00	21:00	55s 40c	47s 33c	8	1.240	3
06:00	22:00	61s 99c	45s 60c	16	1.137	5
07:00	23:00	63s 56c	45s	17	1.146	4
08:00	00:00	50s 50c	40s 25c	22	1.120	4
09:00	01:00	54s 72c	44s 20c	20	1.015	5
10:00	02:00	52s 80c	44s 60c	22	0.986	5
11:00	03:00	54s 27c	41s	22	1.024	5
12:00	04:00	54s 11c	49s 60c	22	1.081	5
13:00	05:00	53s 58c	48s 80c	21	1.070	5
14:00	06:00	52s 51c	47s 60c	19	1.053	5
15:00	07:00	52s 37c	47s 40c	18	1.055	5
16:00	08:00	49s 99c	45s 20c	19	1.012	5
17:00	09:00	59s 76c	54s 17c	17	0.999	6
18:00	10:00	57s 71c	53s 33c	19	0.973	6
19:00	11:00	56s 72c	48s 50c	19	0.959	6
20:00	12:00	54s 68c	49s 33c	20	0.920	6
21:00	13:00	54s 1c	40s	22	0.918	6
22:00	14:00	42s	35s 40c	23	0.890	5
23:00	15:00	53s 58c	47s 17c	20	0.926	6

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/12053 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.010	1.022	5
01:00	17:00	1.022	0.978	4
02:00	18:00	1.042	0.944	6
03:00	19:00	1.022	1.009	6
04:00	20:00	0.985	1.067	6
05:00	21:00	0.964	1.107	4
06:00	22:00	0.970	1.121	6
07:00	23:00	1.012	1.111	4
08:00	00:00	1.037	1.048	5
09:00	01:00	1.047	1.008	6
10:00	02:00	0.991	1.024	6
11:00	03:00	0.975	0.975	6
12:00	04:00	0.968	0.964	6
13:00	05:00	0.962	0.944	6
14:00	06:00	0.992	0.919	6
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.899	5
16:00	08:00	1.013	0.865	6
17:00	09:00	1.015	0.891	6
18:00	10:00	1.019	0.916	6
19:00	11:00	1.003	0.957	6
20:00	12:00	0.988	1.023	6
21:00	13:00	0.996	1.027	6
22:00	14:00	0.981	1.071	5
23:00	15:00	0.987	1.109	6

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 13:00 UTC (05:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.7% 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 Volcanic Rock Ring?: On PvP Horde US, Volcanic Rock Ring is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 16% 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.