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, Thistle Tea is cheapest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 Pacific) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 454% 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

04:00 to 07:00 UTC

20:00 to 23:00 Pacific · index 0.691 · typical 6s 35c

Best hours to sell

12:00 to 15:00 UTC

04:00 to 07:00 Pacific · index 1.766 · typical 30s 56c

Spread after the 5% cut

+454%

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.

Thistle Teaby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	12s 58c	8s 89c	59	0.771	3
01:00	17:00	13s 2c	10s 42c	39	0.830	2
02:00	18:00	8s 10c	6s 60c	36	0.701	4
03:00	19:00	7s 98c	6s 52c	42	0.754	4
04:00	20:00	6s 75c	5s 93c	41	0.674	4
05:00	21:00	5s 19c	4s 61c	36	0.651	2
06:00	22:00	7s 11c	5s 17c	43	0.747	4
07:00	23:00	7s 25c	5s 57c	54	0.748	3
08:00	00:00	5s 85c	5s 68c	30	0.855	3
09:00	01:00	7s 26c	5s 40c	40	0.885	4
10:00	02:00	6s 89c	5s 15c	45	0.874	4
11:00	03:00	6s 37c	5s 23c	43	0.822	4
12:00	04:00	29s 75c	19s 17c	42	2.332	4
13:00	05:00	31s 54c	25s 13c	43	1.503	5
14:00	06:00	30s 38c	25s 49c	48	1.465	5
15:00	07:00	8s 23c	5s 84c	70	0.931	4
16:00	08:00	22s 92c	11s 53c	45	1.188	4
17:00	09:00	12s 92c	12s 12c	40	0.939	4
18:00	10:00	18s 73c	11s 86c	41	1.839	4
19:00	11:00	12s 82c	11s	41	0.964	4
20:00	12:00	12s 44c	10s 67c	47	0.907	4
21:00	13:00	12s 12c	10s 26c	52	0.898	4
22:00	14:00	4s 71c	4s 32c	50	0.856	3
23:00	15:00	10s 49c	8s 19c	49	0.865	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/7676 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 Thistle Tea?: On PvP Horde US, Thistle Tea is cheapest from 04:00 to 07:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 Pacific) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 454% 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.