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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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, Voodoo Band is cheapest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 Pacific) and dearest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 4% 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

17:00 to 20:00 UTC

09:00 to 12:00 Pacific · index 0.920 · typical 47s 20c

Best hours to sell

04:00 to 07:00 UTC

20:00 to 23:00 Pacific · index 1.057 · typical 48s 82c

Spread after the 5% cut

+4%

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.

Voodoo Bandby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	49s 67c	49s 33c	15	0.996	3
01:00	17:00	59s	57s	17	1.066	2
02:00	18:00	50s 17c	46s 67c	14	1.042	3
03:00	19:00	49s 33c	46s 67c	16	1.034	3
04:00	20:00	49s 7c	48s	16	1.043	3
05:00	21:00	49s 7c	41s 33c	17	1.059	3
06:00	22:00	48s 33c	38s	21	1.068	3
07:00	23:00	41s 33c	37s 67c	23	0.967	3
08:00	00:00	43s 33c	37s 67c	16	1.067	3
09:00	01:00	52s 85c	47s	12	1.074	4
10:00	02:00	47s 75c	44s 50c	14	0.970	4
11:00	03:00	47s 25c	43s 25c	14	0.973	4
12:00	04:00	47s	40s 75c	13	0.976	4
13:00	05:00	47s	40s 25c	13	0.982	4
14:00	06:00	45s	39s	12	0.958	4
15:00	07:00	43s 88c	39s 25c	11	0.965	4
16:00	08:00	50s	44s 67c	12	0.944	3
17:00	09:00	49s 56c	44s 67c	13	0.951	3
18:00	10:00	46s	44s 67c	12	0.893	3
19:00	11:00	46s 3c	44s 67c	12	0.915	3
20:00	12:00	52s 67c	52s 33c	12	0.992	3
21:00	13:00	52s 67c	50s 67c	11	1.006	3
22:00	14:00	52s 53c	49s 33c	10	1.023	3
23:00	15:00	52s 33c	49s 33c	13	1.037	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/1996 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.988	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.022	0.985	4
02:00	18:00	1.030	0.942	6
03:00	19:00	1.019	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.979	1.075	6
05:00	21:00	0.975	1.091	4
06:00	22:00	0.972	1.131	6
07:00	23:00	1.011	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.028	1.075	5
09:00	01:00	1.042	1.033	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.081	6
11:00	03:00	0.994	1.055	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.056	6
13:00	05:00	0.990	1.050	6
14:00	06:00	0.997	1.043	6
15:00	07:00	1.003	0.925	4
16:00	08:00	1.008	0.865	5
17:00	09:00	0.995	0.877	5
18:00	10:00	1.031	0.875	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.894	5
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.934	5
21:00	13:00	0.979	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.969	0.919	4
23:00	15:00	0.978	0.972	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 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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 Voodoo Band?: On PvP Horde US, Voodoo Band is cheapest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 Pacific) and dearest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 4% 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.