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, Bard's Tunic is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 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 344% 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

06:00 to 09:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 Pacific · index 0.725 · typical 16s 60c

Best hours to sell

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

17:00 to 20:00 Pacific · index 1.555 · typical 37s 24c

Spread after the 5% cut

+344%

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.

Bard's Tunicby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	29s 40c	8s	19	1.177	3
01:00	17:00	34s 43c	11s	16	1.333	2
02:00	18:00	48s 17c	9s	21	2.125	4
03:00	19:00	29s 13c	8s 75c	24	1.207	4
04:00	20:00	19s 89c	10s 60c	19	0.832	5
05:00	21:00	20s 1c	10s 33c	12	0.803	3
06:00	22:00	18s 6c	8s 25c	26	0.786	4
07:00	23:00	17s 6c	8s 67c	27	0.826	3
08:00	00:00	14s 67c	7s	27	0.563	3
09:00	01:00	23s 26c	13s 60c	19	0.912	5
10:00	02:00	22s 52c	13s 40c	21	0.876	5
11:00	03:00	23s 67c	11s 40c	21	0.897	5
12:00	04:00	27s	15s	22	1.004	4
13:00	05:00	25s 41c	12s 50c	20	0.967	4
14:00	06:00	24s 33c	12s 25c	20	0.891	4
15:00	07:00	24s 67c	8s	21	0.882	3
16:00	08:00	27s 39c	12s 25c	18	1.006	4
17:00	09:00	22s 81c	9s 75c	17	0.949	4
18:00	10:00	23s 33c	11s 50c	19	0.896	4
19:00	11:00	24s 67c	9s	19	0.948	4
20:00	12:00	28s 58c	10s 25c	21	1.154	4
21:00	13:00	22s 63c	9s	23	0.998	4
22:00	14:00	23s 78c	6s 67c	26	0.936	3
23:00	15:00	24s 88c	7s 75c	25	1.032	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/6552 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 Bard's Tunic?: On PvP Horde US, Bard's Tunic is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 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 344% 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.