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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 13:00 UTC (05:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 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, Risen Sentry's Links is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 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 51% 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

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 0.823 · typical 2g 65s 87c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 1.189 · typical 3g 84s 19c

Spread after the 5% cut

+51%

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

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 4 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Risen Sentry's Linksby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3g 57s 97c	2g 85s	14	1.217	4
01:00	17:00	3g 48s	2g 46s 25c	15	1.200	4
02:00	18:00	4g 46s 61c	3g 87s 83c	10	1.152	6
03:00	19:00	4g 44s 36c	4g 10s	11	1.148	6
04:00	20:00	4g 22s 26c	3g 57s 67c	12	1.078	6
05:00	21:00	2g 86s 78c	2g 30s 60c	14	0.933	5
06:00	22:00	2g 59s 70c	2g 45s 20c	14	0.853	5
07:00	23:00	2g 52s 17c	2g 44s 20c	15	0.824	5
08:00	00:00	2g 84s 85c	2g 45s 80c	14	0.970	5
09:00	01:00	2g 66s 30c	2g 46s 40c	10	0.885	5
10:00	02:00	2g 72s 10c	2g 23s 80c	15	0.924	5
11:00	03:00	2g 50s 80c	2g 22s	13	0.821	5
12:00	04:00	3g 24s 10c	2g 23s 20c	10	1.052	5
13:00	05:00	2g 78s 33c	2g 55s 67c	10	0.808	6
14:00	06:00	2g 82s 48c	2g 55s 67c	10	0.846	6
15:00	07:00	2g 36s 80c	2g 12s 80c	10	0.814	5
16:00	08:00	2g 35s 38c	1g 92s 20c	11	0.823	5
17:00	09:00	2g 67s 50c	2g 13s 75c	13	0.943	4
18:00	10:00	2g 88s 58c	2g 37s	12	1.042	5
19:00	11:00	3g 13s 83c	2g 70s	11	1.146	4
20:00	12:00	3g 11s 25c	2g 67s 75c	12	1.130	4
21:00	13:00	3g 4s 64c	1g 86s 25c	13	1.115	4
22:00	14:00	3g 46s 56c	3g 1s	12	1.141	5
23:00	15:00	3g 41s 63c	2g 79s	12	1.137	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.us/287002 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.020	1.028	7
01:00	17:00	1.018	1.031	6
02:00	18:00	1.011	1.016	8
03:00	19:00	1.005	1.062	8
04:00	20:00	0.983	1.087	8
05:00	21:00	0.972	1.135	6
06:00	22:00	0.977	1.101	8
07:00	23:00	0.981	1.140	6
08:00	00:00	1.009	1.088	7
09:00	01:00	1.030	0.991	8
10:00	02:00	1.004	1.021	8
11:00	03:00	0.969	1.006	8
12:00	04:00	0.990	0.955	8
13:00	05:00	0.962	0.974	8
14:00	06:00	0.978	0.953	8
15:00	07:00	0.993	0.935	7
16:00	08:00	1.027	0.913	8
17:00	09:00	1.020	0.965	7
18:00	10:00	1.030	0.937	8
19:00	11:00	0.995	0.900	7
20:00	12:00	1.004	0.921	7
21:00	13:00	1.019	0.910	7
22:00	14:00	1.000	0.944	6
23:00	15:00	1.003	0.988	7

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 13:00 UTC (05:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 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 Risen Sentry's Links?: On PvP Horde US, Risen Sentry's Links is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 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 51% 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.