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), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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, Large Blue Sack is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 23% 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

16:00 to 19:00 UTC

08:00 to 11:00 Pacific · index 0.945 · typical 1g 28s 98c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 Pacific · index 1.047 · typical 1g 52s 56c

Spread after the 5% cut

+23%

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.

Large Blue Sackby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	91s	86s	41	1.029	3
01:00	17:00	88s	70s	46	0.989	2
02:00	18:00	1g 17s 13c	84s 25c	35	1.032	4
03:00	19:00	1g 16s 98c	93s 25c	40	1.052	4
04:00	20:00	1g 10s 61c	85s 75c	43	1.013	4
05:00	21:00	86s 67c	78s 67c	49	1.025	3
06:00	22:00	1g 3s 15c	91s 25c	44	0.977	4
07:00	23:00	1g 69s 42c	1g 52s 50c	41	1.086	4
08:00	00:00	99s 44c	89s	49	0.968	4
09:00	01:00	1g 36s 95c	87s	37	0.967	5
10:00	02:00	1g 55s 90c	1g 22s 25c	31	1.009	4
11:00	03:00	1g 34s 8c	1g 17s 20c	35	0.988	5
12:00	04:00	1g 33s 80c	1g 21s	37	0.997	5
13:00	05:00	1g 47s 27c	1g 23s 75c	30	1.001	4
14:00	06:00	1g 37s 20c	1g 17s 25c	29	0.963	4
15:00	07:00	1g 32s 80c	1g 18s 75c	22	0.951	4
16:00	08:00	1g 30s 76c	1g 23s 50c	20	0.947	4
17:00	09:00	1g 28s 42c	1g 17s 25c	21	0.940	4
18:00	10:00	1g 27s 75c	1g 11s 75c	21	0.947	4
19:00	11:00	1g 27s 70c	1g 19s	18	0.956	4
20:00	12:00	2g 3s 13c	1g 96s 80c	16	1.023	5
21:00	13:00	2g 3s	1g 99s	17	1.054	5
22:00	14:00	1g 28s 50c	1g 5s 50c	23	1.041	4
23:00	15:00	1g 26s 19c	79s 75c	29	1.045	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/804 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.989	1.002	5
01:00	17:00	1.038	0.955	4
02:00	18:00	1.027	0.936	6
03:00	19:00	1.027	1.012	6
04:00	20:00	0.985	1.072	6
05:00	21:00	0.995	1.116	4
06:00	22:00	0.980	1.167	6
07:00	23:00	1.006	1.182	4
08:00	00:00	1.032	1.117	5
09:00	01:00	1.036	1.083	6
10:00	02:00	0.998	1.048	5
11:00	03:00	0.997	1.123	6
12:00	04:00	0.994	1.123	6
13:00	05:00	0.986	0.984	5
14:00	06:00	0.988	0.961	5
15:00	07:00	0.999	0.917	4
16:00	08:00	1.001	0.868	5
17:00	09:00	0.987	0.874	5
18:00	10:00	1.025	0.864	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.875	5
20:00	12:00	0.988	0.920	5
21:00	13:00	0.974	0.934	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.904	4
23:00	15:00	0.974	0.963	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), 2.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 3.8% 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 Large Blue Sack?: On PvP Horde US, Large Blue Sack is cheapest from 16:00 to 19:00 UTC (08:00 to 11:00 Pacific) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 23% 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.