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), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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, Formula: Minor Mana Oil is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 39% 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

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 0.912 · typical 39s 90c

Best hours to sell

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 1.115 · typical 52s 82c

Spread after the 5% cut

+39%

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.

Formula: Minor Mana Oilby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	66s 50c	52s 75c	14	1.365	4
01:00	17:00	42s 89c	39s 33c	15	0.899	3
02:00	18:00	49s 40c	47s 60c	12	1.062	5
03:00	19:00	49s 40c	47s 60c	11	1.065	5
04:00	20:00	45s 65c	42s 60c	10	0.988	5
05:00	21:00	44s	39s	10	1.035	3
06:00	22:00	45s 85c	38s 40c	10	1.000	5
07:00	23:00	39s 25c	37s 50c	10	0.854	4
08:00	00:00	37s 50c	35s 75c	10	0.903	4
09:00	01:00	46s 41c	38s 40c	9	0.994	5
10:00	02:00	39s	35s 25c	9	0.897	4
11:00	03:00	38s 60c	35s	8	0.889	5
12:00	04:00	42s 10c	38s	8	0.951	5
13:00	05:00	47s 75c	47s 25c	8	1.078	4
14:00	06:00	48s 20c	42s 80c	6	0.990	5
15:00	07:00	41s 82c	41s	7	0.955	4
16:00	08:00	44s 47c	42s 80c	6	0.928	5
17:00	09:00	47s 97c	38s 60c	7	1.003	5
18:00	10:00	42s 80c	38s 40c	8	0.898	5
19:00	11:00	43s 17c	41s 80c	8	0.914	5
20:00	12:00	50s 10c	41s 80c	10	1.013	5
21:00	13:00	72s 60c	70s 40c	10	1.339	5
22:00	14:00	39s 50c	38s	11	0.919	4
23:00	15:00	52s 46c	42s 20c	11	1.059	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/20752 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.989	1.002	5
01:00	17:00	1.038	0.955	4
02:00	18:00	1.027	0.936	6
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.012	6
04:00	20:00	0.985	1.072	6
05:00	21:00	0.995	1.116	4
06:00	22:00	0.980	1.167	6
07:00	23:00	1.006	1.182	4
08:00	00:00	1.032	1.117	5
09:00	01:00	1.036	1.083	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.048	5
11:00	03:00	0.997	1.123	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.123	6
13:00	05:00	0.986	0.984	5
14:00	06:00	0.988	0.961	5
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.917	4
16:00	08:00	1.001	0.868	5
17:00	09:00	0.987	0.874	5
18:00	10:00	1.025	0.864	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.875	5
20:00	12:00	0.988	0.920	5
21:00	13:00	0.974	0.934	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.904	4
23:00	15:00	0.974	0.963	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), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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 Formula: Minor Mana Oil?: On PvP Horde US, Formula: Minor Mana Oil is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 39% 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.