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, Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 20 is cheapest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 263% 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

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

03:00 to 06:00 Pacific · index 0.614 · typical 10s 28c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 1.604 · typical 26s 86c

Spread after the 5% cut

+263%

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.

Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 20by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	35s 66c	21s 33c	95	2.230	3
01:00	17:00	15s 85c	11s 45c	122	1.237	2
02:00	18:00	29s 8c	25s 37c	114	1.345	4
03:00	19:00	28s 92c	19s 33c	148	1.374	4
04:00	20:00	27s 17c	15s 74c	183	1.260	4
05:00	21:00	17s 36c	6s 56c	257	1.160	3
06:00	22:00	20s 22c	8s 91c	220	1.060	4
07:00	23:00	14s 75c	4s 89c	268	1.022	3
08:00	00:00	15s 82c	8s 91c	178	0.933	4
09:00	01:00	15s 26c	8s 6c	163	0.919	4
10:00	02:00	12s 18c	7s 37c	154	0.718	4
11:00	03:00	11s 38c	7s 37c	133	0.682	4
12:00	04:00	10s 69c	7s 37c	123	0.619	4
13:00	05:00	8s 78c	6s 37c	108	0.540	4
14:00	06:00	23s 66c	16s 9c	75	0.897	5
15:00	07:00	26s 90c	20s 25c	51	0.947	4
16:00	08:00	24s 88c	20s	68	0.910	4
17:00	09:00	24s 58c	19s 75c	77	0.919	4
18:00	10:00	25s 82c	19s 24c	78	1.033	4
19:00	11:00	24s 30c	18s 50c	85	0.955	4
20:00	12:00	22s 32c	17s	95	0.857	4
21:00	13:00	19s 72c	16s 53c	105	0.708	4
22:00	14:00	20s 41c	17s 75c	89	0.768	4
23:00	15:00	22s 15c	17s 12c	72	0.909	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/2744 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.987	1.019	5
01:00	17:00	1.021	0.988	4
02:00	18:00	1.029	0.943	6
03:00	19:00	1.019	1.019	6
04:00	20:00	0.979	1.078	6
05:00	21:00	0.974	1.095	4
06:00	22:00	0.972	1.135	6
07:00	23:00	1.010	1.139	4
08:00	00:00	1.028	1.080	5
09:00	01:00	1.042	1.037	6
10:00	02:00	1.000	1.042	5
11:00	03:00	0.995	1.061	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.060	6
13:00	05:00	0.990	1.053	6
14:00	06:00	1.000	1.036	6
15:00	07:00	1.003	0.924	4
16:00	08:00	1.008	0.864	5
17:00	09:00	0.995	0.876	5
18:00	10:00	1.031	0.874	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.893	5
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.933	5
21:00	13:00	0.979	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.969	0.923	4
23:00	15:00	0.978	0.975	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 Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 20?: On PvP Horde US, Green Hills of Stranglethorn - Page 20 is cheapest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 263% 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.