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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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, Red Woolen Bag is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% 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 0.939 · typical 12s 44c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 1.131 · typical 18s 17c

Spread after the 5% cut

+55%

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.

Red Woolen Bagby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	31s 50c	31s	182	1.436	3
01:00	17:00	11s	10s	153	0.982	1
02:00	18:00	12s	10s	168	0.974	3
03:00	19:00	15s 38c	15s 25c	148	0.947	4
04:00	20:00	16s 67c	15s	127	1.003	4
05:00	21:00	9s 50c	8s 50c	199	1.002	2
06:00	22:00	15s 13c	13s 25c	141	0.984	4
07:00	23:00	14s 75c	13s 33c	185	0.964	3
08:00	00:00	11s	9s 33c	242	1.004	3
09:00	01:00	14s 32c	13s 25c	198	0.972	4
10:00	02:00	14s 5c	13s 25c	200	0.976	4
11:00	03:00	13s 75c	13s 25c	218	0.974	4
12:00	04:00	13s 75c	13s	221	0.984	4
13:00	05:00	13s 63c	11s 25c	206	1.000	4
14:00	06:00	13s 50c	10s 50c	200	0.996	4
15:00	07:00	13s 36c	10s 75c	183	0.990	4
16:00	08:00	13s 50c	10s 50c	166	1.022	4
17:00	09:00	13s 50c	10s 50c	164	1.036	4
18:00	10:00	12s 97c	10s 25c	174	1.011	4
19:00	11:00	13s 43c	12s 33c	168	0.963	3
20:00	12:00	12s 67c	11s 67c	200	0.936	3
21:00	13:00	12s 33c	10s 67c	239	0.933	3
22:00	14:00	12s 33c	11s	229	0.948	3
23:00	15:00	12s 33c	10s 67c	235	0.964	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/5763 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.043	1.010	4
01:00	17:00	1.132	0.883	3
02:00	18:00	1.071	0.818	5
03:00	19:00	1.034	1.054	5
04:00	20:00	1.018	1.049	5
05:00	21:00	1.019	1.097	3
06:00	22:00	0.996	1.117	5
07:00	23:00	0.984	1.188	3
08:00	00:00	0.985	1.138	4
09:00	01:00	1.007	1.091	5
10:00	02:00	0.987	1.090	5
11:00	03:00	0.970	1.045	5
12:00	04:00	0.962	1.050	5
13:00	05:00	0.949	1.034	5
14:00	06:00	0.962	1.020	5
15:00	07:00	0.990	0.986	4
16:00	08:00	0.990	0.916	5
17:00	09:00	0.989	0.982	5
18:00	10:00	1.006	0.851	4
19:00	11:00	0.968	0.873	4
20:00	12:00	0.966	0.893	4
21:00	13:00	0.978	0.919	4
22:00	14:00	0.988	0.929	3
23:00	15:00	1.006	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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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 Red Woolen Bag?: On PvP Horde US, Red Woolen Bag is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 Pacific) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% 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.