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, Redbeard Crest is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 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 201% 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

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 0.733 · typical 1g 3s 66c

Best hours to sell

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 1.492 · typical 2g 60s 5c

Spread after the 5% cut

+201%

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.

Redbeard Crestby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 11s 63c	1g 23s	18	0.983	4
01:00	17:00	1g 57s 33c	1g 43s 67c	19	0.796	3
02:00	18:00	1g 18s 50c	1g 6s 40c	20	0.743	5
03:00	19:00	1g 19s 7c	90s 20c	20	0.770	5
04:00	20:00	1g 16s 97c	89s 80c	21	0.759	5
05:00	21:00	78s 33c	71s	25	0.701	3
06:00	22:00	1g 15s 60c	93s 40c	20	0.778	5
07:00	23:00	1g 17s 6c	82s	18	0.719	4
08:00	00:00	2g 50s 43c	81s 50c	12	1.535	4
09:00	01:00	2g 70s 91c	1g 16s 80c	15	1.499	5
10:00	02:00	2g 58s 80c	1g 13s 20c	16	1.442	5
11:00	03:00	2g 41s 93c	1g 12s 80c	16	1.367	5
12:00	04:00	2g 42s 37c	1g 1s 80c	15	1.392	5
13:00	05:00	1g 21s 25c	1g 40c	16	0.952	5
14:00	06:00	1g 19s 3c	90s 40c	18	0.944	5
15:00	07:00	1g 7s 18c	77s 20c	18	0.892	5
16:00	08:00	1g 17s 11c	74s 25c	19	0.891	4
17:00	09:00	2g 89s 68c	2g 66s 80c	13	1.006	5
18:00	10:00	2g 87s 61c	2g 61s 80c	12	1.006	5
19:00	11:00	2g 90s 8c	2g 62s 80c	13	1.065	5
20:00	12:00	2g 86s 7c	2g 66s 20c	16	1.010	5
21:00	13:00	2g 85s 4c	2g 59s 40c	16	1.000	5
22:00	14:00	93s 42c	76s	18	0.772	4
23:00	15:00	2g 70s 85c	2g 63s 40c	17	0.980	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/12997 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 Redbeard Crest?: On PvP Horde US, Redbeard Crest is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 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 201% 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.