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), 3.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.9% 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, Short Ash Bow is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 46% 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

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 0.895 · typical 21s 23c

Best hours to sell

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

03:00 to 06:00 Pacific · index 1.137 · typical 29s 98c

Spread after the 5% cut

+46%

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

Short Ash Bowby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	22s 31c	22s	27	0.870	4
01:00	17:00	17s 67c	16s 50c	25	0.924	2
02:00	18:00	23s 70c	20s 20c	26	0.891	5
03:00	19:00	31s 10c	30s 20c	30	1.020	5
04:00	20:00	30s 44c	29s 40c	34	1.008	5
05:00	21:00	17s 78c	17s	34	0.899	3
06:00	22:00	29s 93c	27s	34	1.014	5
07:00	23:00	28s 50c	25s	28	0.972	4
08:00	00:00	18s 75c	18s	33	0.909	4
09:00	01:00	26s 83c	25s	31	0.975	5
10:00	02:00	29s 25c	26s 25c	39	1.049	4
11:00	03:00	32s 4c	28s 80c	28	1.223	5
12:00	04:00	29s 1c	25s 60c	27	1.097	5
13:00	05:00	28s 90c	24s	28	1.091	5
14:00	06:00	27s 96c	21s 60c	25	1.074	5
15:00	07:00	26s 41c	22s 40c	17	1.049	5
16:00	08:00	26s 7c	21s 20c	19	1.038	5
17:00	09:00	25s 4c	22s 50c	16	1.066	4
18:00	10:00	22s 82c	20s	21	0.968	4
19:00	11:00	22s 81c	21s 25c	26	0.979	4
20:00	12:00	22s 75c	21s	29	0.988	4
21:00	13:00	22s 13c	20s	30	0.975	4
22:00	14:00	21s 44c	19s 25c	33	0.966	4
23:00	15:00	21s 13c	17s 75c	39	0.954	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/3039 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	1.016	5
01:00	17:00	1.026	0.979	4
02:00	18:00	1.037	0.937	6
03:00	19:00	1.023	1.016	6
04:00	20:00	0.984	1.063	6
05:00	21:00	0.976	1.091	4
06:00	22:00	0.968	1.129	6
07:00	23:00	1.009	1.124	4
08:00	00:00	1.038	1.062	5
09:00	01:00	1.049	1.021	6
10:00	02:00	0.997	1.059	6
11:00	03:00	0.993	1.033	6
12:00	04:00	0.993	1.031	6
13:00	05:00	0.992	1.017	6
14:00	06:00	0.991	1.010	6
15:00	07:00	0.992	1.001	5
16:00	08:00	0.994	0.969	6
17:00	09:00	0.992	0.871	5
18:00	10:00	1.035	0.878	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.898	5
20:00	12:00	0.992	0.935	5
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.961	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.921	4
23:00	15:00	0.979	0.977	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 06:00 UTC (22:00 Pacific), 3.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.9% 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 Short Ash Bow?: On PvP Horde US, Short Ash Bow is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (03:00 to 06:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 46% 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.