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

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 15:00 UTC (07:00 Pacific), 4.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 11.9% 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, Small Black Pouch is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 11% 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

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 Pacific · index 0.972 · typical 3s 17c

Best hours to sell

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 Pacific · index 1.034 · typical 3s 60c

Spread after the 5% cut

+11%

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.

Small Black Pouchby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	3s 33c	3s	476	0.999	3
01:00	17:00	3s 57c	3s 50c	431	1.022	2
02:00	18:00	3s 60c	3s 60c	300	1.029	5
03:00	19:00	3s 63c	3s 40c	382	1.045	5
04:00	20:00	3s 56c	3s 20c	384	1.029	5
05:00	21:00	3s 33c	3s 33c	384	0.983	3
06:00	22:00	3s 40c	3s 20c	456	0.997	5
07:00	23:00	3s 33c	3s	583	1.015	3
08:00	00:00	3s 25c	3s	441	0.990	4
09:00	01:00	3s 40c	2s 80c	448	1.007	5
10:00	02:00	3s 40c	3s 20c	443	1.009	5
11:00	03:00	3s 40c	3s 20c	431	1.011	5
12:00	04:00	3s 50c	3s 25c	395	1.016	4
13:00	05:00	3s 50c	3s	359	1.017	4
14:00	06:00	3s 50c	3s 25c	356	1.021	4
15:00	07:00	3s 22c	3s	293	1.012	3
16:00	08:00	3s 25c	3s 25c	328	0.963	4
17:00	09:00	3s 33c	3s 25c	321	0.990	4
18:00	10:00	3s 29c	3s 25c	334	0.978	4
19:00	11:00	3s 25c	3s 25c	359	0.970	4
20:00	12:00	3s 25c	3s 25c	394	0.973	4
21:00	13:00	3s 25c	3s	416	0.974	4
22:00	14:00	3s	3s	337	0.970	3
23:00	15:00	3s 25c	3s	394	0.981	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/5571 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.045	0.972	4
01:00	17:00	1.119	0.879	3
02:00	18:00	1.061	0.828	5
03:00	19:00	1.044	1.068	5
04:00	20:00	1.011	1.069	5
05:00	21:00	1.015	1.136	3
06:00	22:00	1.003	1.175	5
07:00	23:00	0.989	1.279	3
08:00	00:00	0.983	1.224	4
09:00	01:00	0.990	1.171	5
10:00	02:00	0.965	1.166	5
11:00	03:00	0.972	1.052	4
12:00	04:00	0.973	1.017	4
13:00	05:00	0.965	1.007	4
14:00	06:00	0.968	0.977	4
15:00	07:00	0.951	0.942	3
16:00	08:00	0.978	0.889	4
17:00	09:00	0.985	0.846	4
18:00	10:00	1.018	0.836	4
19:00	11:00	0.986	0.852	4
20:00	12:00	0.979	0.877	4
21:00	13:00	0.988	0.907	4
22:00	14:00	1.004	0.894	3
23:00	15:00	1.008	0.937	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 15:00 UTC (07:00 Pacific), 4.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 11.9% 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 Small Black Pouch?: On PvP Horde US, Small Black Pouch is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 11% 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.