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), 4.5% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 12.3% 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, Raven's Claws is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 0.874 · typical 28s 76c

Best hours to sell

14:00 to 17:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 Pacific · index 1.153 · typical 40s 18c

Spread after the 5% cut

+38%

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.

Raven's Clawsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	37s 33c	36s 67c	9	1.005	3
01:00	17:00	53s 17c	47s 50c	8	1.318	2
02:00	18:00	32s 75c	29s 75c	9	0.919	4
03:00	19:00	32s 25c	28s 25c	10	0.911	4
04:00	20:00	30s 75c	26s 75c	12	0.883	4
05:00	21:00	29s 45c	25s	15	0.933	2
06:00	22:00	29s 50c	28s 50c	13	0.859	4
07:00	23:00	30s	29s 33c	11	0.932	3
08:00	00:00	27s 67c	27s 33c	11	0.847	3
09:00	01:00	29s 35c	28s 75c	9	0.880	4
10:00	02:00	29s 25c	26s 75c	8	0.894	4
11:00	03:00	29s 17c	26s 75c	6	0.898	4
12:00	04:00	39s 50c	36s 25c	4	1.133	4
13:00	05:00	39s 25c	38s	4	1.135	4
14:00	06:00	39s 25c	38s 75c	5	1.154	4
15:00	07:00	39s 25c	38s 75c	4	1.160	4
16:00	08:00	42s 5c	38s 33c	5	1.145	3
17:00	09:00	30s 83c	25s 75c	5	0.851	4
18:00	10:00	37s 50c	32s 67c	6	1.049	3
19:00	11:00	35s 17c	33s 50c	6	0.963	4
20:00	12:00	37s 25c	33s 50c	6	1.051	4
21:00	13:00	41s 17c	38s 50c	7	1.137	4
22:00	14:00	33s 33c	30s 33c	8	0.938	3
23:00	15:00	36s 13c	35s 25c	7	1.007	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/6628 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.047	1.000	4
01:00	17:00	1.123	0.870	3
02:00	18:00	1.067	0.822	5
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.055	5
04:00	20:00	1.011	1.051	5
05:00	21:00	1.015	1.092	3
06:00	22:00	0.994	1.122	5
07:00	23:00	0.989	1.189	3
08:00	00:00	0.990	1.145	4
09:00	01:00	1.009	1.103	5
10:00	02:00	0.982	1.104	5
11:00	03:00	0.975	1.053	5
12:00	04:00	0.964	1.066	5
13:00	05:00	0.955	1.057	5
14:00	06:00	0.972	1.046	5
15:00	07:00	0.987	1.018	4
16:00	08:00	0.972	0.892	4
17:00	09:00	0.973	0.853	4
18:00	10:00	1.011	0.857	4
19:00	11:00	0.979	0.877	4
20:00	12:00	0.978	0.900	4
21:00	13:00	0.982	0.931	4
22:00	14:00	0.991	0.930	3
23:00	15:00	1.005	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), 4.5% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 12.3% 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 Raven's Claws?: On PvP Horde US, Raven's Claws is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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.