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), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.5% 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, Robust Leggings is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 Pacific) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 138% 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

18:00 to 21:00 UTC

10:00 to 13:00 Pacific · index 0.654 · typical 41s 15c

Best hours to sell

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

17:00 to 20:00 Pacific · index 1.240 · typical 76s 69c

Spread after the 5% cut

+138%

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

Robust Leggingsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	65s 58c	27s	14	1.137	3
01:00	17:00	88s 73c	32s	11	1.357	2
02:00	18:00	71s 63c	31s 25c	8	1.187	4
03:00	19:00	69s 72c	31s 25c	9	1.176	4
04:00	20:00	59s 11c	35s 75c	12	1.013	4
05:00	21:00	58s 7c	34s 33c	14	0.978	3
06:00	22:00	59s 34c	35s 75c	16	1.003	4
07:00	23:00	56s 2c	41s 50c	16	0.806	4
08:00	00:00	63s 25c	29s 75c	17	1.063	4
09:00	01:00	95s 88c	68s	14	1.205	5
10:00	02:00	89s 52c	69s 80c	13	1.094	5
11:00	03:00	94s 13c	66s 60c	13	1.195	5
12:00	04:00	68s 17c	40s 20c	13	0.970	5
13:00	05:00	69s 42c	31s 60c	14	0.968	5
14:00	06:00	85s 20c	31s 60c	13	1.086	5
15:00	07:00	91s 90c	31s 60c	11	1.198	5
16:00	08:00	81s 57c	31s 60c	11	1.062	5
17:00	09:00	52s 35c	30s 40c	12	0.767	5
18:00	10:00	42s	29s 50c	12	0.663	4
19:00	11:00	41s 95c	31s 25c	11	0.677	4
20:00	12:00	39s 50c	31s 25c	9	0.623	4
21:00	13:00	51s 6c	31s 50c	10	0.813	4
22:00	14:00	60s 30c	31s 50c	8	1.040	4
23:00	15:00	55s 36c	31s 50c	11	0.920	4

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/15126 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	1.019	5
01:00	17:00	1.015	0.990	4
02:00	18:00	1.045	0.947	6
03:00	19:00	1.021	1.016	6
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.076	6
05:00	21:00	0.968	1.105	4
06:00	22:00	0.962	1.137	6
07:00	23:00	1.003	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.031	1.068	5
09:00	01:00	1.045	1.025	6
10:00	02:00	0.990	1.055	6
11:00	03:00	0.982	1.026	6
12:00	04:00	0.980	1.015	6
13:00	05:00	0.975	0.998	6
14:00	06:00	0.991	0.981	6
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.968	5
16:00	08:00	1.012	0.941	6
17:00	09:00	1.028	0.977	6
18:00	10:00	1.031	0.866	5
19:00	11:00	0.999	0.884	5
20:00	12:00	0.990	0.923	5
21:00	13:00	0.985	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.923	4
23:00	15:00	0.989	0.973	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), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.5% 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 Robust Leggings?: On PvP Horde US, Robust Leggings is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 Pacific) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 138% 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.