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), 3.5% 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, Demon Band is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 Pacific · index 0.893 · typical 54s 78c

Best hours to sell

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 1.164 · typical 62s 64c

Spread after the 5% cut

+38%

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.

Demon Bandby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	78s 25c	66s 25c	28	0.940	4
01:00	17:00	93s	84s 33c	26	1.043	3
02:00	18:00	72s 64c	57s 20c	29	0.962	5
03:00	19:00	69s 55c	51s 40c	27	0.964	5
04:00	20:00	57s 91c	45s 80c	28	0.866	5
05:00	21:00	36s 87c	32s 33c	20	0.849	3
06:00	22:00	63s 93c	52s 80c	23	1.064	5
07:00	23:00	66s 70c	51s	18	1.091	4
08:00	00:00	51s 9c	38s 25c	17	1.152	4
09:00	01:00	70s 82c	57s 20c	20	1.189	5
10:00	02:00	66s	46s 80c	23	1.151	5
11:00	03:00	62s 47c	42s 40c	25	1.129	5
12:00	04:00	58s 3c	42s 80c	29	1.061	5
13:00	05:00	57s 49c	39s 60c	29	1.057	5
14:00	06:00	53s 16c	42s 60c	27	1.025	5
15:00	07:00	53s 85c	40s 40c	24	1.043	5
16:00	08:00	47s 62c	39s 60c	22	0.952	5
17:00	09:00	68s 83c	66s 17c	17	0.900	6
18:00	10:00	69s 72c	64s 67c	16	0.926	6
19:00	11:00	69s 37c	60s 33c	17	0.942	6
20:00	12:00	77s 15c	70s 20c	19	0.940	5
21:00	13:00	76s 84c	72s	19	0.942	5
22:00	14:00	44s 75c	38s 25c	30	0.878	4
23:00	15:00	74s 63c	69s 20c	29	0.933	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/12054 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.008	1.030	5
01:00	17:00	1.012	0.995	4
02:00	18:00	1.048	0.953	6
03:00	19:00	1.022	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.983	1.071	6
05:00	21:00	0.968	1.099	4
06:00	22:00	0.965	1.127	6
07:00	23:00	1.012	1.114	4
08:00	00:00	1.042	1.047	5
09:00	01:00	1.053	1.007	6
10:00	02:00	0.995	1.034	6
11:00	03:00	0.982	1.002	6
12:00	04:00	0.978	0.988	6
13:00	05:00	0.970	0.971	6
14:00	06:00	0.993	0.949	6
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.936	5
16:00	08:00	1.010	0.909	6
17:00	09:00	1.013	0.947	6
18:00	10:00	1.029	0.984	6
19:00	11:00	0.998	1.036	6
20:00	12:00	0.987	0.924	5
21:00	13:00	0.981	0.952	5
22:00	14:00	0.971	0.922	4
23:00	15:00	0.984	0.985	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), 3.5% 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 Demon Band?: On PvP Horde US, Demon Band is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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.