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), 4.7% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.1% 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, Sanguine Armor is cheapest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific) and dearest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.

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

14:00 to 17:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 Pacific · index 0.931 · typical 50s 3c

Best hours to sell

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 Pacific · index 1.069 · typical 31s 63c

Spread after the 5% cut

-37%

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.

Sanguine Armorby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	21s 50c	18s 50c	26	1.060	2
01:00	17:00	21s 17c	15s	31	0.998	1
02:00	18:00	40s 75c	37s 75c	16	0.896	4
03:00	19:00	37s 67c	33s 33c	29	1.053	3
04:00	20:00	36s 13c	32s 33c	30	1.047	3
05:00	21:00	21s 10c	17s	27	1.107	2
06:00	22:00	33s 50c	31s	28	0.999	3
07:00	23:00	18s	17s	22	0.947	2
08:00	00:00	32s 67c	25s 33c	26	1.006	3
09:00	01:00	32s 10c	21s 33c	25	1.027	3
10:00	02:00	52s 25c	44s 25c	19	1.053	4
11:00	03:00	52s 15c	44s 25c	16	1.075	4
12:00	04:00	48s 50c	44s 25c	15	1.008	4
13:00	05:00	47s 67c	43s 25c	16	0.996	4
14:00	06:00	44s 75c	42s	17	0.932	4
15:00	07:00	52s 67c	50s	14	0.918	3
16:00	08:00	52s 67c	50s	14	0.942	3
17:00	09:00	51s	49s	13	0.941	3
18:00	10:00	50s	49s	14	0.924	3
19:00	11:00	50s	42s 33c	14	0.938	3
20:00	12:00	51s 94c	42s	15	1.056	3
21:00	13:00	50s	41s	17	1.048	3
22:00	14:00	44s 53c	41s	19	1.006	3
23:00	15:00	44s 33c	39s 33c	21	1.023	3

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/14372 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.040	0.987	4
01:00	17:00	1.131	0.866	3
02:00	18:00	1.066	0.821	5
03:00	19:00	1.020	1.056	5
04:00	20:00	1.010	1.043	5
05:00	21:00	1.021	1.095	3
06:00	22:00	0.998	1.123	5
07:00	23:00	0.992	1.196	3
08:00	00:00	0.994	1.150	4
09:00	01:00	1.010	1.108	5
10:00	02:00	0.987	1.112	5
11:00	03:00	0.984	1.065	5
12:00	04:00	0.972	1.078	5
13:00	05:00	0.964	1.072	5
14:00	06:00	0.985	1.062	5
15:00	07:00	0.953	0.955	3
16:00	08:00	0.973	0.904	4
17:00	09:00	0.976	0.861	4
18:00	10:00	1.009	0.859	4
19:00	11:00	0.974	0.880	4
20:00	12:00	0.975	0.902	4
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.926	4
22:00	14:00	0.987	0.922	3
23:00	15:00	0.997	0.958	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), 4.7% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.1% 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 Sanguine Armor?: On PvP Horde US, Sanguine Armor is cheapest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific) and dearest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.
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.