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% under the daily average, and dearest around 12:00 UTC (04:00 Pacific), 2.3% 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 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, Depth-Risen Leggings is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific) and dearest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 22% 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

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 Pacific · index 0.915 · typical 3g 25s 90c

Best hours to sell

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 1.146 · typical 3g 99s 81c

Spread after the 5% cut

+22%

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.

Depth-Risen Leggingsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 33s 70c	2g 62s 99c	7	0.983	7
01:00	17:00	2g 72s 2c	2g 7s 60c	7	1.011	5
02:00	18:00	3g 47s 63c	3g 1s 43c	6	0.996	7
03:00	19:00	3g 40s 21c	2g 79s 43c	6	0.960	7
04:00	20:00	3g 33s 69c	2g 89s 85c	6	0.941	7
05:00	21:00	3g 36s 36c	3g 12s	5	0.953	7
06:00	22:00	3g 19s 33c	3g 5s 28c	5	0.890	7
07:00	23:00	3g 22s	3g 13s 43c	5	0.903	7
08:00	00:00	3g 40s 29c	3g 21s 14c	5	0.975	7
09:00	01:00	3g 42s 6c	3g 10s 57c	5	0.984	7
10:00	02:00	3g 33s 43c	2g 96s 43c	4	0.976	7
11:00	03:00	3g 22s 14c	2g 99s 29c	4	0.937	7
12:00	04:00	3g 55s 25c	3g 16s	5	1.055	6
13:00	05:00	3g 42s 50c	3g 15s 50c	5	1.016	6
14:00	06:00	4g 29s 29c	4g 18s	4	1.212	7
15:00	07:00	4g 27s 64c	4g 14s 57c	4	1.211	7
16:00	08:00	3g 8s	2g 71s	4	0.921	7
17:00	09:00	3g 82s 72c	3g 73s 67c	5	1.058	6
18:00	10:00	3g 54s	3g 20s 14c	6	1.037	7
19:00	11:00	3g 41s 56c	3g 16s 57c	5	1.007	7
20:00	12:00	3g 39s 57c	3g 16s 43c	5	1.001	7
21:00	13:00	3g 57s 65c	3g 35s 83c	6	1.002	6
22:00	14:00	3g 34s 46c	3g 8s 71c	6	0.985	7
23:00	15:00	3g 34s 34c	2g 69s 43c	6	0.986	7

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/286997 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.013	1.080	9
01:00	17:00	1.017	1.012	7
02:00	18:00	1.003	1.016	10
03:00	19:00	0.996	1.073	10
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.103	10
05:00	21:00	0.983	1.071	8
06:00	22:00	0.970	1.106	10
07:00	23:00	0.971	1.130	8
08:00	00:00	0.995	1.076	9
09:00	01:00	1.010	1.033	10
10:00	02:00	1.017	1.046	10
11:00	03:00	0.987	1.007	10
12:00	04:00	1.023	0.960	10
13:00	05:00	0.996	0.915	9
14:00	06:00	0.991	0.925	10
15:00	07:00	0.990	0.905	9
16:00	08:00	1.021	0.853	10
17:00	09:00	0.996	0.902	9
18:00	10:00	1.009	0.903	10
19:00	11:00	1.007	0.907	10
20:00	12:00	1.005	0.960	10
21:00	13:00	1.010	0.975	10
22:00	14:00	1.003	0.979	9
23:00	15:00	1.008	1.061	10

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% under the daily average, and dearest around 12:00 UTC (04:00 Pacific), 2.3% 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 Depth-Risen Leggings?: On PvP Horde US, Depth-Risen Leggings is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 Pacific) and dearest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 22% 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.