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, Brawler's Harness is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 40% 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

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 0.844 · typical 20s 14c

Best hours to sell

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

17:00 to 20:00 Pacific · index 1.181 · typical 20s 66c

Spread after the 5% cut

+40%

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.

Brawler's Harnessby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	10s 38c	10s 25c	10	0.879	4
01:00	17:00	12s 92c	11s 50c	14	1.180	2
02:00	18:00	16s	13s	12	1.040	4
03:00	19:00	33s 7c	30s 20c	9	1.322	5
04:00	20:00	27s 33c	11s 40c	12	1.147	5
05:00	21:00	9s 33c	6s	16	1.035	3
06:00	22:00	30s 25c	21s 80c	14	1.167	5
07:00	23:00	27s 63c	22s	12	1.104	4
08:00	00:00	12s 75c	7s 50c	12	0.983	4
09:00	01:00	25s 20c	18s 60c	11	1.046	5
10:00	02:00	24s 60c	19s 80c	12	1.015	5
11:00	03:00	23s 20c	18s 80c	12	0.990	5
12:00	04:00	22s 27c	19s	10	0.938	5
13:00	05:00	21s 30c	19s 40c	9	0.883	5
14:00	06:00	21s	15s 83c	7	1.017	6
15:00	07:00	21s 20c	15s	8	0.912	5
16:00	08:00	20s 92c	15s 83c	7	0.905	6
17:00	09:00	19s 17c	12s 50c	8	0.839	6
18:00	10:00	20s 33c	13s 80c	8	0.788	5
19:00	11:00	20s 31c	14s 60c	8	0.975	5
20:00	12:00	17s 80c	13s 20c	10	0.917	5
21:00	13:00	18s 80c	16s 20c	10	0.936	5
22:00	14:00	18s 50c	16s 25c	11	1.065	4
23:00	15:00	16s 80c	13s	10	0.916	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/6125 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 Brawler's Harness?: On PvP Horde US, Brawler's Harness is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 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 40% 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.