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), 4.6% 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, War Torn Shield is cheapest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 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 51% 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

19:00 to 22:00 UTC

11:00 to 14:00 Pacific · index 0.902 · typical 3s 22c

Best hours to sell

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 1.079 · typical 4s 76c

Spread after the 5% cut

+51%

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.

War Torn Shieldby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3s 25c	3s	117	0.945	4
01:00	17:00	3s 67c	3s	116	1.044	3
02:00	18:00	4s 89c	4s 50c	97	1.012	6
03:00	19:00	5s 35c	4s 50c	97	1.102	6
04:00	20:00	4s 97c	4s 17c	103	1.024	6
05:00	21:00	5s 44c	4s 50c	84	1.039	4
06:00	22:00	4s 83c	3s 67c	108	1.035	6
07:00	23:00	3s 38c	3s	90	1.032	4
08:00	00:00	5s 10c	3s 20c	93	1.117	5
09:00	01:00	4s 67c	3s 33c	91	1.086	6
10:00	02:00	4s 50c	3s 33c	97	1.034	6
11:00	03:00	4s 33c	3s 33c	88	1.023	6
12:00	04:00	4s 6c	3s 17c	83	0.995	6
13:00	05:00	3s 83c	2s 67c	79	0.971	6
14:00	06:00	3s 88c	3s 17c	75	0.993	6
15:00	07:00	3s 20c	3s	67	0.999	5
16:00	08:00	3s 67c	3s 17c	66	0.977	6
17:00	09:00	3s 50c	3s	69	0.952	6
18:00	10:00	3s 75c	3s	80	1.029	5
19:00	11:00	3s 27c	2s 80c	91	0.907	5
20:00	12:00	3s 20c	3s	96	0.896	5
21:00	13:00	3s 20c	3s 20c	100	0.904	5
22:00	14:00	3s	3s	97	0.956	4
23:00	15:00	3s 20c	2s 80c	115	0.928	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/15486 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	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.021	0.986	4
02:00	18:00	1.045	0.943	6
03:00	19:00	1.024	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.071	6
05:00	21:00	0.969	1.112	4
06:00	22:00	0.962	1.143	6
07:00	23:00	1.004	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.034	1.071	5
09:00	01:00	1.046	1.030	6
10:00	02:00	0.991	1.063	6
11:00	03:00	0.983	1.034	6
12:00	04:00	0.980	1.030	6
13:00	05:00	0.977	1.013	6
14:00	06:00	0.990	1.000	6
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.988	5
16:00	08:00	1.022	0.966	6
17:00	09:00	0.996	0.867	5
18:00	10:00	1.036	0.869	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.884	5
20:00	12:00	0.989	0.923	5
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.970	0.915	4
23:00	15:00	0.990	0.969	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), 4.6% 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 War Torn Shield?: On PvP Horde US, War Torn Shield is cheapest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 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 51% 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.