When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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, Scroll of Spirit III is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 33% 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

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 Pacific · index 0.886 · typical 18s 34c

Best hours to sell

14:00 to 17:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 Pacific · index 1.070 · typical 22s 50c

Spread after the 5% cut

+33%

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.

Scroll of Spirit IIIby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	18s 68c	13s 66c	35	0.946	3
01:00	17:00	24s 1c	15s 73c	46	1.175	2
02:00	18:00	18s 31c	16s 88c	26	0.803	4
03:00	19:00	18s 22c	15s 97c	30	0.805	4
04:00	20:00	18s 48c	15s 50c	54	1.050	3
05:00	21:00	18s 18c	14s 50c	58	1.040	3
06:00	22:00	21s 47c	19s 86c	50	1.016	4
07:00	23:00	17s 17c	11s 53c	64	0.994	3
08:00	00:00	21s	16s 15c	42	0.999	4
09:00	01:00	20s 69c	16s 53c	42	0.989	4
10:00	02:00	23s 33c	22s 70c	29	1.050	3
11:00	03:00	19s 87c	16s 40c	46	0.958	4
12:00	04:00	19s 47c	16s 15c	43	0.940	4
13:00	05:00	22s 70c	18s 37c	27	1.038	3
14:00	06:00	22s 70c	18s 37c	22	1.074	3
15:00	07:00	22s 55c	21s 70c	19	1.078	3
16:00	08:00	22s 26c	16s 33c	20	1.058	3
17:00	09:00	22s 3c	21s	20	1.051	3
18:00	10:00	21s 75c	20s 68c	25	1.041	3
19:00	11:00	21s 8c	14s 34c	28	0.995	3
20:00	12:00	21s 41c	18s 35c	26	1.030	3
21:00	13:00	19s 81c	18s 66c	30	0.963	3
22:00	14:00	22s 50c	22s 25c	21	0.952	4
23:00	15:00	22s 36c	17s 25c	23	0.956	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/4424 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.989	1.002	5
01:00	17:00	1.038	0.955	4
02:00	18:00	1.027	0.936	6
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.012	6
04:00	20:00	0.985	1.072	6
05:00	21:00	0.995	1.116	4
06:00	22:00	0.980	1.167	6
07:00	23:00	1.006	1.182	4
08:00	00:00	1.032	1.117	5
09:00	01:00	1.036	1.083	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.048	5
11:00	03:00	0.997	1.123	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.123	6
13:00	05:00	0.986	0.984	5
14:00	06:00	0.988	0.961	5
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.917	4
16:00	08:00	1.001	0.868	5
17:00	09:00	0.987	0.874	5
18:00	10:00	1.025	0.864	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.875	5
20:00	12:00	0.988	0.920	5
21:00	13:00	0.974	0.934	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.904	4
23:00	15:00	0.974	0.963	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 22:00 UTC (14:00 Pacific), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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 Scroll of Spirit III?: On PvP Horde US, Scroll of Spirit III is cheapest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 33% 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.