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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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, Short Ash Bow is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 32% 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 0.936 · typical 22s 64c

Best hours to sell

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 Pacific · index 1.041 · typical 28s 87c

Spread after the 5% cut

+32%

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.

Short Ash Bowby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	24s 8c	23s 67c	26	0.873	3
01:00	17:00	18s 33c	17s	23	1.013	1
02:00	18:00	25s 50c	21s 50c	23	0.920	4
03:00	19:00	34s 63c	33s 50c	33	1.082	4
04:00	20:00	33s 80c	32s 50c	37	1.072	4
05:00	21:00	18s 17c	17s	40	0.969	2
06:00	22:00	33s 17c	29s 50c	38	1.080	4
07:00	23:00	32s 33c	27s 67c	32	1.045	3
08:00	00:00	19s 33c	18s 33c	40	0.963	3
09:00	01:00	29s 29c	27s	37	1.034	4
10:00	02:00	29s 25c	26s 25c	39	1.046	4
11:00	03:00	27s 55c	23s 50c	35	1.005	4
12:00	04:00	27s 52c	23s 50c	32	1.009	4
13:00	05:00	27s 38c	21s 75c	31	1.007	4
14:00	06:00	26s 20c	20s 50c	25	0.993	4
15:00	07:00	24s 29c	21s 50c	16	0.971	4
16:00	08:00	24s 6c	20s 50c	17	0.972	4
17:00	09:00	25s 29c	22s 75c	15	1.070	4
18:00	10:00	24s 67c	21s	21	0.969	3
19:00	11:00	24s 67c	22s 67c	27	0.983	3
20:00	12:00	24s 67c	22s 33c	30	0.998	3
21:00	13:00	23s 83c	21s	32	0.981	3
22:00	14:00	23s	20s	35	0.970	3
23:00	15:00	22s 50c	18s	44	0.974	3

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	1.043	1.010	4
01:00	17:00	1.132	0.883	3
02:00	18:00	1.071	0.818	5
03:00	19:00	1.034	1.054	5
04:00	20:00	1.018	1.049	5
05:00	21:00	1.019	1.097	3
06:00	22:00	0.996	1.117	5
07:00	23:00	0.984	1.188	3
08:00	00:00	0.985	1.138	4
09:00	01:00	1.007	1.091	5
10:00	02:00	0.987	1.090	5
11:00	03:00	0.970	1.045	5
12:00	04:00	0.962	1.050	5
13:00	05:00	0.949	1.034	5
14:00	06:00	0.962	1.020	5
15:00	07:00	0.990	0.986	4
16:00	08:00	0.990	0.916	5
17:00	09:00	0.989	0.982	5
18:00	10:00	1.006	0.851	4
19:00	11:00	0.968	0.873	4
20:00	12:00	0.966	0.893	4
21:00	13:00	0.978	0.919	4
22:00	14:00	0.988	0.929	3
23:00	15:00	1.006	0.968	4

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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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 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 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 32% 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.