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, Patched Leather Shoulderpads is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 36% 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 0.918 · typical 21s

Best hours to sell

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 1.050 · typical 23s 68c

Spread after the 5% cut

+36%

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.

Patched Leather Shoulderpadsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	27s 33c	16s	26	1.101	3
01:00	17:00	29s 84c	29s	17	1.040	2
02:00	18:00	18s 94c	16s	26	1.003	3
03:00	19:00	22s 30c	19s 75c	30	0.947	4
04:00	20:00	25s 53c	21s 50c	25	1.056	4
05:00	21:00	14s 80c	14s 50c	29	0.963	2
06:00	22:00	24s 17c	21s 75c	25	1.019	4
07:00	23:00	24s 50c	21s 33c	24	1.032	3
08:00	00:00	17s 33c	14s 67c	29	0.980	3
09:00	01:00	23s 79c	16s 50c	30	1.025	4
10:00	02:00	24s	17s	30	1.052	4
11:00	03:00	23s 80c	19s 25c	31	1.061	4
12:00	04:00	23s 25c	16s 75c	32	1.037	4
13:00	05:00	22s 64c	15s 75c	30	1.040	4
14:00	06:00	20s 80c	18s 60c	22	0.907	5
15:00	07:00	21s 42c	17s	27	0.947	3
16:00	08:00	26s 29c	22s 25c	20	1.011	4
17:00	09:00	24s 17c	14s 75c	19	0.970	4
18:00	10:00	19s 32c	15s 50c	21	0.830	4
19:00	11:00	21s 18c	16s 67c	25	0.991	3
20:00	12:00	22s 50c	17s 50c	20	0.934	4
21:00	13:00	28s	18s 25c	26	1.073	4
22:00	14:00	20s 22c	14s 67c	30	0.993	3
23:00	15:00	19s 67c	13s 67c	33	0.991	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/1793 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 Patched Leather Shoulderpads?: On PvP Horde US, Patched Leather Shoulderpads is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 Pacific) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 36% 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.