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), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 4.1% 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, Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Lesser Intellect is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 63% 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

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 Pacific · index 0.854 · typical 11s 71c

Best hours to sell

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 Pacific · index 1.090 · typical 17s 13c

Spread after the 5% cut

+63%

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.

Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Lesser Intellectby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	11s 95c	9s 75c	33	0.866	4
01:00	17:00	11s 52c	10s 33c	29	0.806	3
02:00	18:00	11s 67c	9s 80c	26	0.889	5
03:00	19:00	11s 52c	9s 60c	34	0.879	5
04:00	20:00	11s 24c	8s 60c	32	0.857	5
05:00	21:00	11s 40c	8s 33c	42	1.083	3
06:00	22:00	13s	11s 40c	28	1.060	5
07:00	23:00	11s 50c	11s 25c	24	0.944	4
08:00	00:00	15s 80c	15s 60c	22	0.987	5
09:00	01:00	16s 92c	15s 33c	17	1.098	6
10:00	02:00	16s 60c	16s 60c	20	0.979	5
11:00	03:00	17s 87c	17s 83c	17	1.192	6
12:00	04:00	16s 60c	16s 60c	15	1.011	5
13:00	05:00	16s 54c	16s 40c	16	1.020	5
14:00	06:00	16s 60c	16s 40c	17	1.035	5
15:00	07:00	12s	11s	17	1.013	4
16:00	08:00	16s 17c	15s 60c	16	1.028	5
17:00	09:00	16s	15s 60c	17	1.014	5
18:00	10:00	16s 37c	15s 60c	14	1.045	5
19:00	11:00	16s 53c	15s 80c	15	1.066	5
20:00	12:00	16s 22c	15s 60c	19	1.043	5
21:00	13:00	16s 60c	12s 80c	20	1.081	5
22:00	14:00	12s 29c	10s 50c	23	1.047	4
23:00	15:00	13s 12c	11s 80c	22	0.957	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/6349 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.988	1.000	5
01:00	17:00	1.041	0.953	4
02:00	18:00	1.031	0.934	6
03:00	19:00	1.036	1.019	6
04:00	20:00	0.998	1.082	6
05:00	21:00	1.002	1.151	4
06:00	22:00	0.983	1.190	6
07:00	23:00	1.008	1.208	4
08:00	00:00	1.027	1.134	5
09:00	01:00	1.035	1.102	6
10:00	02:00	0.995	1.058	5
11:00	03:00	0.989	1.154	6
12:00	04:00	0.984	1.020	5
13:00	05:00	0.980	0.990	5
14:00	06:00	0.984	0.962	5
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.918	4
16:00	08:00	1.000	0.867	5
17:00	09:00	0.986	0.869	5
18:00	10:00	1.027	0.858	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.865	5
20:00	12:00	0.992	0.903	5
21:00	13:00	0.973	0.923	5
22:00	14:00	0.966	0.889	4
23:00	15:00	0.973	0.949	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), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 4.1% 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 Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Lesser Intellect?: On PvP Horde US, Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Lesser Intellect is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 Pacific) and dearest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 63% 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.