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, Iron-Wrought Cuffs is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 262% 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

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 Pacific · index 0.464 · typical 8g 60s 36c

Best hours to sell

23:00 to 02:00 UTC

15:00 to 18:00 Pacific · index 1.999 · typical 32g 81s

Spread after the 5% cut

+262%

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 1 day of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Iron-Wrought Cuffsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	35g 67s	20g 11s	3	2.094	4
01:00	17:00	25g 97s	19g 93s	2	1.730	3
02:00	18:00	16g 8s	9g 55s 35c	2	1.109	3
03:00	19:00	11g 2s	9g 22s 2c	2	0.800	3
04:00	20:00	10g	9g 33s 3c	4	0.638	2
05:00	21:00	9g 88s 69c	9g 53c	4	0.607	2
06:00	22:00	9g 54s 14c	9g 50s 53c	3	0.576	2
07:00	23:00	9g 50s 53c	9g 50s 53c	4	0.557	2
08:00	00:00	9g 46s 53c	9g 45s 53c	5	0.540	2
09:00	01:00	6g 90s 2c	6g 90s 2c	3	0.388	3
10:00	02:00	9g 45s 53c	9g 45s 53c	5	0.512	2
11:00	03:00	9g 45s 53c	9g 45s 53c	4	0.493	2
12:00	04:00	9g 45s 53c	9g 45s 53c	4	0.491	2
13:00	05:00	9g 90s	9g 90s	1	0.578	1
14:00	06:00	8g 45s 53c	6g 45s 53c	2	0.475	2
15:00	07:00	6g 45s 53c	6g 45s 53c	2	0.348	2
16:00	08:00	16g 51s	6g 76s 69c	1	0.926	3
17:00	09:00	40g 79s	39g 66s	4	1.894	1
18:00	10:00	21g 87s	17g 13s	3	1.218	3
19:00	11:00	22g 21s	17g 13s	2	1.218	3
20:00	12:00	21g 80s	17g 13s	3	1.184	3
21:00	13:00	32g 15s	24g 29s	3	1.933	4
22:00	14:00	27g 30s	21g 86s	3	1.517	4
23:00	15:00	36g 80s	21g 86s	3	2.174	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/287023 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 Iron-Wrought Cuffs?: On PvP Horde US, Iron-Wrought Cuffs is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 262% 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.