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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 15:00 UTC (07:00 Pacific), 4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 14.7% 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, Lightning Eel is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 31% 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

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 0.888 · typical 9s 52c

Best hours to sell

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 1.111 · typical 12s 98c

Spread after the 5% cut

+31%

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 1 day of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Lightning Eelby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	11s 48c	10s 99c	16	0.982	2
01:00	17:00	12s 99c	12s 97c	9	0.964	1
02:00	18:00	11s 48c	11s 47c	10	0.999	2
03:00	19:00	11s 48c	9s 99c	17	1.008	2
04:00	20:00	11s 19c	9s 49c	15	0.987	2
05:00	21:00	11s 9c	9s 47c	15	0.988	2
06:00	22:00	11s	9s 47c	14	0.990	2
07:00	23:00	10s 37c	9s 47c	13	0.935	2
08:00	00:00	9s 99c	9s 47c	11	0.906	2
09:00	01:00	9s 99c	9s 39c	12	0.918	2
10:00	02:00	9s 48c	9s 39c	10	0.869	2
11:00	03:00	9s 61c	9s 39c	10	0.898	2
12:00	04:00	9s 47c	9s 39c	11	0.897	2
13:00	05:00	12s 98c	12s 97c	7	1.060	1
14:00	06:00	12s 98c	9s 97c	8	1.071	1
15:00	07:00	12s 98c	9s 97c	7	1.083	1
16:00	08:00	12s 98c	9s 97c	6	1.096	1
17:00	09:00	12s 98c	9s 97c	5	1.111	1
18:00	10:00	12s 98c	9s 97c	8	1.127	1
19:00	11:00	12s 99c	12s 49c	6	1.032	2
20:00	12:00	12s 49c	12s 49c	9	1.000	2
21:00	13:00	12s 49c	12s 49c	10	1.012	2
22:00	14:00	12s 49c	12s 49c	10	1.027	2
23:00	15:00	12s 49c	12s 49c	12	1.041	2

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/13757 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.015	0.978	4
01:00	17:00	1.147	0.879	3
02:00	18:00	1.065	0.829	5
03:00	19:00	1.030	1.051	5
04:00	20:00	1.003	1.033	5
05:00	21:00	1.018	1.077	3
06:00	22:00	1.007	1.117	5
07:00	23:00	0.996	1.207	3
08:00	00:00	0.988	1.169	4
09:00	01:00	1.006	1.129	5
10:00	02:00	0.980	1.129	5
11:00	03:00	0.965	1.132	5
12:00	04:00	0.974	1.107	5
13:00	05:00	0.974	1.012	4
14:00	06:00	0.975	0.987	4
15:00	07:00	0.960	0.954	3
16:00	08:00	0.986	0.905	4
17:00	09:00	0.989	0.864	4
18:00	10:00	1.018	0.857	4
19:00	11:00	0.981	0.879	4
20:00	12:00	0.972	0.900	4
21:00	13:00	0.979	0.928	4
22:00	14:00	0.985	0.921	3
23:00	15:00	0.985	0.955	4

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 15:00 UTC (07:00 Pacific), 4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 14.7% 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 Lightning Eel?: On PvP Horde US, Lightning Eel is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 31% 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.