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, Oak Mallet is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 40% 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

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 Pacific · index 0.825 · typical 33s 64c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 Pacific · index 1.207 · typical 44s 17c

Spread after the 5% cut

+40%

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.

Oak Malletby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	41s 93c	22s	50	1.098	4
01:00	17:00	41s 67c	32s	43	1.012	3
02:00	18:00	45s 80c	25s	46	1.262	5
03:00	19:00	43s 29c	24s 60c	50	1.230	5
04:00	20:00	35s 32c	23s 60c	57	0.970	5
05:00	21:00	31s 34c	20s 67c	72	0.953	3
06:00	22:00	30s 10c	22s 80c	70	0.860	5
07:00	23:00	30s 96c	22s 25c	69	0.946	4
08:00	00:00	32s 75c	20s 75c	76	1.005	4
09:00	01:00	31s 66c	21s 40c	65	0.966	5
10:00	02:00	26s 44c	21s 40c	71	0.791	5
11:00	03:00	37s 66c	34s 33c	57	0.847	6
12:00	04:00	36s 83c	34s 17c	56	0.838	6
13:00	05:00	36s 14c	33s 83c	53	0.827	6
14:00	06:00	37s 35c	33s 67c	45	0.863	6
15:00	07:00	25s 16c	21s 20c	45	0.796	5
16:00	08:00	38s 67c	30s 33c	39	0.957	6
17:00	09:00	41s 65c	28s 40c	36	0.964	5
18:00	10:00	42s 17c	28s 60c	37	0.994	5
19:00	11:00	41s 93c	27s 20c	40	1.043	5
20:00	12:00	45s 39c	27s 60c	43	1.156	5
21:00	13:00	43s 90c	21s 60c	45	1.134	5
22:00	14:00	42s 56c	21s	50	1.264	4
23:00	15:00	46s 6c	27s 60c	45	1.224	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/3193 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 Oak Mallet?: On PvP Horde US, Oak Mallet is cheapest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 40% 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.