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

Across PvP Alliance US, prices run cheapest around 20:00 UTC (12:00 Pacific), 6.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 14:00 UTC (06:00 Pacific), 13.4% 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 Alliance 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 Alliance US, Bristlebark Buckler is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 Alliance US. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/pvp/alliance/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

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 0.946 · typical 43s 22c

Best hours to sell

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 Pacific · index 1.052 · typical 39s 38c

Spread after the 5% cut

-13%

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.

Bristlebark Bucklerby hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	43s 50c	43s	14	0.983	2
01:00	17:00	43s 50c	39s 50c	14	0.992	2
02:00	18:00	43s 50c	36s 50c	13	1.005	2
03:00	19:00	37s 73c	34s 33c	12	1.049	3
04:00	20:00	37s	34s 33c	12	1.036	3
05:00	21:00	43s 40c	37s 75c	9	1.072	4
06:00	22:00	39s 88c	37s	9	0.993	4
07:00	23:00	40s 50c	38s 75c	8	1.028	4
08:00	00:00	41s 67c	41s 67c	11	0.954	3
09:00	01:00	52s 50c	52s	12	1.010	2
10:00	02:00	41s 50c	40s	5	1.033	4
11:00	03:00	39s 50c	38s	8	0.981	4
12:00	04:00	26s 50c	26s 50c	6	0.949	2
13:00	05:00	37s 50c	32s 50c	11	0.986	2
14:00	06:00	52s	47s	11	1.048	2
15:00	07:00	39s 67c	39s 33c	7	0.939	3
16:00	08:00	47s	46s 50c	8	0.960	2
17:00	09:00	47s	46s 50c	7	0.972	2
18:00	10:00	35s 67c	35s 67c	4	0.907	3
19:00	11:00	39s 50c	39s 50c	6	1.005	2
20:00	12:00	39s 33c	39s 33c	9	1.008	3
21:00	13:00	39s 50c	39s 50c	7	1.023	2
22:00	14:00	39s 50c	39s 50c	9	1.024	2
23:00	15:00	39s 33c	37s	13	1.045	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.alliance.us/15894 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.009	1.004	4
01:00	17:00	1.068	0.851	3
02:00	18:00	0.966	1.095	3
03:00	19:00	0.982	1.106	4
04:00	20:00	1.004	1.073	5
05:00	21:00	1.013	1.110	6
06:00	22:00	1.024	1.193	5
07:00	23:00	1.007	1.041	6
08:00	00:00	1.015	1.320	5
09:00	01:00	1.001	1.130	4
10:00	02:00	1.004	0.918	5
11:00	03:00	0.982	1.085	4
12:00	04:00	0.970	0.985	3
13:00	05:00	0.966	0.988	4
14:00	06:00	1.134	0.842	5
15:00	07:00	0.953	0.954	4
16:00	08:00	1.103	0.794	5
17:00	09:00	0.969	0.884	4
18:00	10:00	0.936	0.967	4
19:00	11:00	0.956	0.870	4
20:00	12:00	0.931	0.979	4
21:00	13:00	0.936	0.957	3
22:00	14:00	1.030	0.896	4
23:00	15:00	1.040	0.958	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 Alliance US, prices run cheapest around 20:00 UTC (12:00 Pacific), 6.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 14:00 UTC (06:00 Pacific), 13.4% 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 Bristlebark Buckler?: On PvP Alliance US, Bristlebark Buckler is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 Alliance US through the night fills the gaps.