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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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, Inscribed Leather Boots is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 29% 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

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 0.942 · typical 5s 60c

Best hours to sell

14:00 to 17:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 Pacific · index 1.049 · typical 7s

Spread after the 5% cut

+29%

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

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 3 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Inscribed Leather Bootsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	6s	5s 50c	85	0.933	4
01:00	17:00	6s 38c	5s 67c	71	1.002	3
02:00	18:00	5s 40c	5s 20c	80	0.922	5
03:00	19:00	5s 90c	5s 40c	82	1.027	5
04:00	20:00	5s 40c	5s 40c	94	0.936	5
05:00	21:00	5s	4s 33c	112	0.983	3
06:00	22:00	5s 40c	5s	106	0.960	5
07:00	23:00	5s 50c	5s 25c	115	0.965	4
08:00	00:00	5s 25c	4s 75c	101	1.036	4
09:00	01:00	5s 60c	5s	89	1.035	5
10:00	02:00	5s 40c	5s 20c	96	1.006	5
11:00	03:00	7s 83c	7s 50c	74	1.040	6
12:00	04:00	7s 83c	7s 17c	71	1.051	6
13:00	05:00	7s 57c	7s	64	1.034	6
14:00	06:00	7s 55c	6s 83c	59	1.046	6
15:00	07:00	5s 45c	4s 50c	62	1.029	4
16:00	08:00	8s	7s 20c	51	1.074	5
17:00	09:00	7s 73c	6s 60c	53	1.037	5
18:00	10:00	7s 60c	6s 80c	58	1.036	5
19:00	11:00	7s	5s 40c	64	0.999	5
20:00	12:00	6s 80c	5s 40c	69	0.986	5
21:00	13:00	6s 53c	5s 20c	70	0.970	5
22:00	14:00	5s	5s	79	0.967	4
23:00	15:00	5s 80c	5s	76	0.925	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/2987 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.987	1.019	5
01:00	17:00	1.021	0.988	4
02:00	18:00	1.029	0.943	6
03:00	19:00	1.019	1.019	6
04:00	20:00	0.979	1.078	6
05:00	21:00	0.974	1.095	4
06:00	22:00	0.972	1.135	6
07:00	23:00	1.010	1.139	4
08:00	00:00	1.028	1.080	5
09:00	01:00	1.042	1.037	6
10:00	02:00	1.000	1.042	5
11:00	03:00	0.995	1.061	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.060	6
13:00	05:00	0.990	1.053	6
14:00	06:00	1.000	1.036	6
15:00	07:00	1.003	0.924	4
16:00	08:00	1.008	0.864	5
17:00	09:00	0.995	0.876	5
18:00	10:00	1.031	0.874	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.893	5
20:00	12:00	0.993	0.933	5
21:00	13:00	0.979	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.969	0.923	4
23:00	15:00	0.978	0.975	5

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 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 3.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.2% 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 Inscribed Leather Boots?: On PvP Horde US, Inscribed Leather Boots is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 29% 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.