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), 4.5% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 12.3% 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, Belamoore's Research Journal is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 276% 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 0.842 · typical 11s 14c

Best hours to sell

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 1.151 · typical 40s 90c

Spread after the 5% cut

+276%

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.

Belamoore's Research Journalby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	6s 25c	6s	62	0.870	2
01:00	17:00	12s 50c	10s	45	1.064	1
02:00	18:00	21s	20s 67c	32	1.032	3
03:00	19:00	20s 67c	19s 67c	48	0.951	3
04:00	20:00	20s 67c	19s 33c	49	1.012	3
05:00	21:00	6s	3s 50c	71	1.064	2
06:00	22:00	20s 67c	13s 33c	54	1.158	3
07:00	23:00	5s 25c	3s	69	0.870	2
08:00	00:00	14s	10s 33c	48	0.879	3
09:00	01:00	12s 19c	10s 33c	49	0.854	3
10:00	02:00	10s 80c	10s 33c	48	0.839	3
11:00	03:00	10s 44c	10s 33c	46	0.834	3
12:00	04:00	10s 33c	6s 33c	44	0.875	3
13:00	05:00	10s 33c	7s	44	0.902	3
14:00	06:00	32s 75c	30s	34	1.026	4
15:00	07:00	32s 75c	30s	35	1.090	4
16:00	08:00	42s 86c	39s 67c	32	1.216	3
17:00	09:00	40s	39s 67c	29	1.115	3
18:00	10:00	39s 83c	39s 33c	26	1.121	3
19:00	11:00	39s 67c	39s 33c	30	1.137	3
20:00	12:00	39s 39c	37s 33c	34	1.116	3
21:00	13:00	29s 33c	20s 67c	36	1.008	3
22:00	14:00	22s 67c	20s 67c	35	0.957	3
23:00	15:00	22s 67c	20s 67c	38	1.010	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/3711 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.047	1.000	4
01:00	17:00	1.123	0.870	3
02:00	18:00	1.067	0.822	5
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.055	5
04:00	20:00	1.011	1.051	5
05:00	21:00	1.015	1.092	3
06:00	22:00	0.994	1.122	5
07:00	23:00	0.989	1.189	3
08:00	00:00	0.990	1.145	4
09:00	01:00	1.009	1.103	5
10:00	02:00	0.982	1.104	5
11:00	03:00	0.975	1.053	5
12:00	04:00	0.964	1.066	5
13:00	05:00	0.955	1.057	5
14:00	06:00	0.972	1.046	5
15:00	07:00	0.987	1.018	4
16:00	08:00	0.972	0.892	4
17:00	09:00	0.973	0.853	4
18:00	10:00	1.011	0.857	4
19:00	11:00	0.979	0.877	4
20:00	12:00	0.978	0.900	4
21:00	13:00	0.982	0.931	4
22:00	14:00	0.991	0.930	3
23:00	15:00	1.005	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), 4.5% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 12.3% 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 Belamoore's Research Journal?: On PvP Horde US, Belamoore's Research Journal is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 276% 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.