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), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.6% 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, Big Bear Steak is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 309% 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

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 0.906 · typical 1s 89c

Best hours to sell

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

17:00 to 20:00 Pacific · index 1.134 · typical 7s 16c

Spread after the 5% cut

+309%

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.

Big Bear Steakby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	7s 19c	7s 19c	47	1.112	4
01:00	17:00	9s 17c	9s 17c	43	1.170	3
02:00	18:00	6s 17c	5s 6c	43	1.113	5
03:00	19:00	6s 13c	5s 5c	46	1.118	5
04:00	20:00	5s 44c	4s 37c	51	1.084	5
05:00	21:00	1s 25c	1s 23c	67	1.016	3
06:00	22:00	4s 37c	4s 11c	70	1.029	5
07:00	23:00	3s 82c	2s 19c	66	0.984	4
08:00	00:00	1s 40c	1s 25c	66	1.069	4
09:00	01:00	3s 47c	1s 81c	60	1.061	5
10:00	02:00	2s 84c	1s 80c	66	0.975	5
11:00	03:00	2s 84c	1s 79c	59	0.986	5
12:00	04:00	2s 63c	1s 79c	60	0.974	5
13:00	05:00	2s 6c	1s 79c	57	0.910	5
14:00	06:00	1s 79c	1s 60c	54	0.890	5
15:00	07:00	1s 81c	1s 60c	54	0.919	5
16:00	08:00	1s 79c	1s 60c	51	0.930	5
17:00	09:00	1s 79c	1s 40c	50	0.950	5
18:00	10:00	1s 90c	1s 44c	50	0.946	4
19:00	11:00	1s 81c	1s 42c	55	0.951	4
20:00	12:00	1s 69c	1s 44c	55	0.940	4
21:00	13:00	6s 21c	6s 13c	41	0.963	5
22:00	14:00	1s 46c	1s 44c	47	0.906	4
23:00	15:00	6s 15c	6s 14c	38	1.004	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/3726 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.010	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.021	0.986	4
02:00	18:00	1.045	0.943	6
03:00	19:00	1.024	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.071	6
05:00	21:00	0.969	1.112	4
06:00	22:00	0.962	1.143	6
07:00	23:00	1.004	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.034	1.071	5
09:00	01:00	1.046	1.030	6
10:00	02:00	0.991	1.063	6
11:00	03:00	0.983	1.034	6
12:00	04:00	0.980	1.030	6
13:00	05:00	0.977	1.013	6
14:00	06:00	0.990	1.000	6
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.988	5
16:00	08:00	1.022	0.966	6
17:00	09:00	0.996	0.867	5
18:00	10:00	1.036	0.869	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.884	5
20:00	12:00	0.989	0.923	5
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.970	0.915	4
23:00	15:00	0.990	0.969	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), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.6% 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 Big Bear Steak?: On PvP Horde US, Big Bear Steak is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (17:00 to 20:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 309% 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.