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, Touch of the Depths is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.

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 0.921 · typical 4g 86s 94c

Best hours to sell

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 1.061 · typical 4g 44s 86c

Spread after the 5% cut

-6%

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

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 6 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Touch of the Depthsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	4g 51s 6c	4g 30s 2c	5	1.078	8
01:00	17:00	4g 26s 44c	3g 79s 8c	6	1.032	6
02:00	18:00	4g 53s 45c	3g 83s 93c	6	1.066	7
03:00	19:00	4g 38s 39c	3g 84s 50c	7	1.044	7
04:00	20:00	4g 33s 89c	3g 86s 57c	8	1.034	7
05:00	21:00	4g 27s 95c	3g 73s 71c	9	1.028	7
06:00	22:00	4g 27s 96c	3g 55s 44c	9	1.041	7
07:00	23:00	4g 20s 25c	3g 58s 14c	9	1.035	7
08:00	00:00	4g 8s 18c	3g 29s 57c	8	1.019	7
09:00	01:00	3g 77s	3g 19s 85c	7	0.976	7
10:00	02:00	3g 90s 14c	3g 47s 24c	8	0.985	7
11:00	03:00	5g 18s 62c	4g 86s 46c	7	0.979	8
12:00	04:00	4g 98s 42c	4g 74s 46c	6	0.937	8
13:00	05:00	5g 17s 43c	4g 88s 53c	5	0.910	7
14:00	06:00	4g 81s 53c	4g 30s 38c	6	0.940	8
15:00	07:00	4g 61s 86c	4g 34s 21c	5	0.912	8
16:00	08:00	4g 78s 42c	4g 30s 59c	5	0.973	8
17:00	09:00	4g 98s 5c	4g 70s 38c	5	0.970	7
18:00	10:00	4g 91s 89c	4g 51s 46c	6	0.990	8
19:00	11:00	3g 59s 28c	3g 19s 61c	7	0.979	6
20:00	12:00	3g 60s 26c	3g 29s 10c	6	0.994	7
21:00	13:00	3g 52s 8c	3g 28s 81c	6	0.972	7
22:00	14:00	4g 30s 90c	4g 7s 21c	5	1.034	8
23:00	15:00	4g 52s 62c	4g 36s 71c	5	1.071	8

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/287004 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 Touch of the Depths?: On PvP Horde US, Touch of the Depths is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific). The gap between them does not cover the 5 percent cut, so this is a buying pattern, not a flip.
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.