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

Across PvP Horde EU, prices run cheapest around 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET), 3.6% under the daily average, and dearest around 04:00 UTC (05:00 CET), 12.8% 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 EU 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 EU, Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Helm is cheapest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 CET) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 43% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: PvP Horde EU. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/pvp/horde/eu

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

23:00 to 02:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 CET · index 0.966 · typical 31s 56c

Best hours to sell

12:00 to 15:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 CET · index 1.044 · typical 41s 59c

Spread after the 5% cut

+43%

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.

Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Helmby hour · PvP Horde EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	34s 92c	28s 50c	21	1.001	4
01:00	02:00	30s 75c	29s 25c	18	0.953	4
02:00	03:00	30s 75c	29s	19	0.975	4
03:00	04:00	30s 25c	29s 25c	17	0.980	4
04:00	05:00	27s 25c	23s	14	1.044	2
05:00	06:00	35s	34s 50c	16	0.998	2
06:00	07:00	33s 33c	31s	17	1.017	3
07:00	08:00	30s 71c	27s	13	1.044	4
08:00	09:00	28s 75c	26s	17	0.978	4
09:00	10:00	43s 99c	39s 40c	13	1.027	5
10:00	11:00	41s 20c	39s 20c	14	0.968	5
11:00	12:00	41s 24c	39s 20c	15	0.988	5
12:00	13:00	42s 42c	39s 60c	13	1.042	5
13:00	14:00	41s 91c	40s 20c	15	1.053	5
14:00	15:00	40s 45c	38s 80c	16	1.037	5
15:00	16:00	25s 50c	22s 25c	23	0.990	4
16:00	17:00	36s 80c	31s 40c	17	1.052	5
17:00	18:00	35s 28c	34s	16	0.996	5
18:00	19:00	25s 3c	22s 75c	21	0.990	4
19:00	20:00	24s 15c	21s 75c	26	0.957	4
20:00	21:00	34s 49c	29s 80c	22	0.997	5
21:00	22:00	19s 33c	17s 67c	32	0.978	3
22:00	23:00	25s 42c	16s 67c	33	0.991	3
23:00	00:00	29s	25s 20c	25	0.944	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.eu/252818 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.986	1.104	5
01:00	02:00	0.972	1.048	5
02:00	03:00	0.969	1.077	4
03:00	04:00	1.002	0.871	4
04:00	05:00	1.128	0.851	4
05:00	06:00	0.974	0.852	3
06:00	07:00	1.000	0.828	4
07:00	08:00	0.995	0.775	5
08:00	09:00	0.992	0.848	6
09:00	10:00	1.020	0.811	6
10:00	11:00	0.985	0.893	6
11:00	12:00	1.005	0.904	6
12:00	13:00	0.998	0.942	6
13:00	14:00	0.993	1.002	6
14:00	15:00	1.001	0.996	6
15:00	16:00	0.975	1.050	6
16:00	17:00	1.006	1.087	6
17:00	18:00	1.003	0.963	6
18:00	19:00	0.993	1.102	5
19:00	20:00	0.964	1.192	5
20:00	21:00	1.008	1.105	6
21:00	22:00	1.001	1.187	5
22:00	23:00	1.038	1.282	4
23:00	00:00	0.991	1.232	6

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 EU, prices run cheapest around 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET), 3.6% under the daily average, and dearest around 04:00 UTC (05:00 CET), 12.8% 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 Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Helm?: On PvP Horde EU, Pattern: Stormrider's Leather Helm is cheapest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 CET) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 43% 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 EU through the night fills the gaps.