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

Across Normal Horde US, prices run cheapest around 07:00 UTC (23:00 Pacific), 2.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 17:00 UTC (09:00 Pacific), 7.3% 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 Normal 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 Normal Horde US, Jagged Knives is cheapest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 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 135% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: Normal Horde US. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/normal/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

19:00 to 22:00 UTC

11:00 to 14:00 Pacific · index 0.879 · typical 72s 73c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 1.141 · typical 1g 10s 7c

Spread after the 5% cut

+135%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 5 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Jagged Knivesby hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	96s 14c	48s 90c	12	1.065	10
01:00	17:00	1g 14s 75c	59s 13c	12	1.133	8
02:00	18:00	1g 19s 32c	65s	15	1.224	6
03:00	19:00	96s 28c	39s	17	0.929	6
04:00	20:00	1g 4s 48c	57s 29c	14	1.244	7
05:00	21:00	88s 3c	48s 50c	17	1.016	8
06:00	22:00	84s 25c	51s 83c	15	1.063	6
07:00	23:00	94s 70c	52s 57c	18	0.988	7
08:00	00:00	79s 93c	54s 75c	15	0.967	8
09:00	01:00	83s 40c	53s 71c	9	0.966	7
10:00	02:00	69s 20c	54s 80c	10	0.904	5
11:00	03:00	68s 6c	50s 50c	10	0.843	8
12:00	04:00	86s 14c	51s 43c	12	0.986	7
13:00	05:00	86s 86c	52s 43c	9	0.945	7
14:00	06:00	67s	47s 50c	10	0.945	8
15:00	07:00	83s 71c	50s 67c	9	0.996	7
16:00	08:00	1g 6s 4c	52s 50c	12	1.077	6
17:00	09:00	92s 47c	47s 50c	12	0.875	6
18:00	10:00	86s 8c	48s 13c	12	0.971	8
19:00	11:00	76s 64c	45s 67c	12	0.933	9
20:00	12:00	66s 68c	40s 40c	12	0.841	10
21:00	13:00	74s 88c	47s 25c	14	0.863	8
22:00	14:00	1g 5s 67c	80s 78c	13	1.101	9
23:00	15:00	1g 23s 8c	90s 67c	13	1.123	6

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.normal.horde.us/285282 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.993	1.060	10
01:00	17:00	1.026	0.998	9
02:00	18:00	0.984	1.043	8
03:00	19:00	0.989	1.050	7
04:00	20:00	0.982	1.093	8
05:00	21:00	0.990	1.136	9
06:00	22:00	0.992	1.107	7
07:00	23:00	0.979	1.136	8
08:00	00:00	0.985	1.116	8
09:00	01:00	1.065	0.999	7
10:00	02:00	0.990	1.037	5
11:00	03:00	0.984	0.972	8
12:00	04:00	1.013	0.835	8
13:00	05:00	0.981	0.896	7
14:00	06:00	1.002	0.816	8
15:00	07:00	0.991	0.826	7
16:00	08:00	1.012	0.862	6
17:00	09:00	1.073	0.837	7
18:00	10:00	0.997	0.891	9
19:00	11:00	0.992	0.924	10
20:00	12:00	1.003	0.965	10
21:00	13:00	0.998	1.040	8
22:00	14:00	0.996	1.166	9
23:00	15:00	0.984	1.195	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 Normal Horde US, prices run cheapest around 07:00 UTC (23:00 Pacific), 2.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 17:00 UTC (09:00 Pacific), 7.3% 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 Jagged Knives?: On Normal Horde US, Jagged Knives is cheapest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 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 135% 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 Normal Horde US through the night fills the gaps.