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, Stout Battlehammer is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% 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

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 Pacific · index 0.906 · typical 23s 30c

Best hours to sell

19:00 to 22:00 UTC

11:00 to 14:00 Pacific · index 1.121 · typical 34s 74c

Spread after the 5% cut

+55%

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.

Stout Battlehammerby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	32s 42c	28s	59	1.055	3
01:00	17:00	33s 22c	25s	34	1.002	2
02:00	18:00	26s 25c	22s	51	0.963	4
03:00	19:00	26s 67c	22s 50c	66	0.987	4
04:00	20:00	23s 33c	21s 75c	70	0.911	4
05:00	21:00	20s	20s	100	1.002	2
06:00	22:00	22s 88c	20s 75c	84	0.926	4
07:00	23:00	23s	22s	85	0.913	3
08:00	00:00	20s	20s	88	0.991	3
09:00	01:00	24s 55c	22s	58	0.884	5
10:00	02:00	23s 60c	22s	59	0.873	5
11:00	03:00	21s 75c	20s	66	0.960	4
12:00	04:00	21s 50c	19s 75c	65	0.964	4
13:00	05:00	21s 50c	20s	57	0.972	4
14:00	06:00	23s 20c	22s	42	0.890	5
15:00	07:00	21s 50c	20s	52	0.991	4
16:00	08:00	35s 25c	33s 25c	34	1.093	4
17:00	09:00	35s 83c	27s 50c	35	1.119	4
18:00	10:00	35s 82c	27s 25c	38	1.131	4
19:00	11:00	33s 54c	22s 50c	43	1.075	4
20:00	12:00	35s 25c	24s 25c	48	1.126	4
21:00	13:00	35s 42c	23s 25c	50	1.161	4
22:00	14:00	20s	20s	71	0.949	3
23:00	15:00	32s 50c	32s 50c	59	1.061	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/789 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 Stout Battlehammer?: On PvP Horde US, Stout Battlehammer is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 Pacific) and dearest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 55% 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.