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, Magician Staff is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 29% 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

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 0.897 · typical 58s 24c

Best hours to sell

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 1.134 · typical 74s 89c

Spread after the 5% cut

+29%

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.

Magician Staffby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	58s 25c	57s 50c	42	0.886	4
01:00	17:00	61s 76c	57s 33c	32	0.918	3
02:00	18:00	74s 20c	58s 40c	33	1.111	5
03:00	19:00	66s 96c	58s	37	1.005	5
04:00	20:00	64s 13c	57s 80c	46	0.962	5
05:00	21:00	68s 82c	50s 67c	69	1.082	3
06:00	22:00	69s 18c	58s	55	1.040	5
07:00	23:00	74s 43c	57s 25c	60	1.120	4
08:00	00:00	72s 9c	53s 25c	59	1.133	4
09:00	01:00	72s 35c	57s 40c	49	1.098	5
10:00	02:00	75s 36c	57s 40c	52	1.143	5
11:00	03:00	73s 3c	57s 40c	49	1.103	5
12:00	04:00	76s 27c	57s 40c	48	1.157	5
13:00	05:00	70s 47c	56s 40c	44	1.058	5
14:00	06:00	62s 9c	56s 80c	43	0.931	5
15:00	07:00	64s 95c	56s 80c	38	0.971	5
16:00	08:00	58s 26c	56s 60c	36	0.886	5
17:00	09:00	57s 45c	54s 20c	38	0.870	5
18:00	10:00	59s	54s 75c	34	0.933	4
19:00	11:00	59s 10c	56s 75c	35	0.929	4
20:00	12:00	58s 75c	56s 25c	41	0.919	4
21:00	13:00	58s 42c	56s	43	0.912	4
22:00	14:00	59s 15c	56s 25c	38	0.921	4
23:00	15:00	58s 63c	56s 25c	44	0.912	4

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/2077 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 Magician Staff?: On PvP Horde US, Magician Staff is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 29% 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.