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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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, Cat Carrier (Black Tabby) is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 64% 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

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

05:00 to 08:00 Pacific · index 0.880 · typical 64s 4c

Best hours to sell

23:00 to 02:00 UTC

15:00 to 18:00 Pacific · index 1.145 · typical 1g 11c

Spread after the 5% cut

+64%

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.

Cat Carrier (Black Tabby)by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	96s 33c	87s 67c	9	1.199	3
01:00	17:00	1g 12s	1g 12s	10	1.124	2
02:00	18:00	75s 13c	70s 50c	9	0.945	4
03:00	19:00	72s	66s 75c	11	0.934	4
04:00	20:00	83s 67c	77s 50c	10	1.098	4
05:00	21:00	56s 50c	40s	18	1.080	2
06:00	22:00	82s 21c	62s 25c	16	1.120	4
07:00	23:00	73s 75c	63s 67c	18	1.001	3
08:00	00:00	62s 8c	46s	18	1.087	3
09:00	01:00	77s 88c	62s	15	1.093	4
10:00	02:00	75s	56s	17	1.060	4
11:00	03:00	64s 75c	58s	16	0.918	4
12:00	04:00	64s 75c	59s 50c	15	0.928	4
13:00	05:00	60s 66c	54s 25c	14	0.895	4
14:00	06:00	76s 70c	70s 60c	10	0.903	5
15:00	07:00	54s 75c	49s	12	0.842	4
16:00	08:00	75s 51c	72s 20c	10	0.909	5
17:00	09:00	74s 97c	63s 40c	10	0.909	5
18:00	10:00	82s 96c	74s 75c	8	0.886	4
19:00	11:00	84s 48c	74s 75c	8	0.922	4
20:00	12:00	81s 25c	72s	9	0.904	4
21:00	13:00	92s 10c	83s 75c	9	1.070	4
22:00	14:00	69s 56c	52s	11	1.059	3
23:00	15:00	92s	77s	9	1.112	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/8491 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.043	1.010	4
01:00	17:00	1.132	0.883	3
02:00	18:00	1.071	0.818	5
03:00	19:00	1.034	1.054	5
04:00	20:00	1.018	1.049	5
05:00	21:00	1.019	1.097	3
06:00	22:00	0.996	1.117	5
07:00	23:00	0.984	1.188	3
08:00	00:00	0.985	1.138	4
09:00	01:00	1.007	1.091	5
10:00	02:00	0.987	1.090	5
11:00	03:00	0.970	1.045	5
12:00	04:00	0.962	1.050	5
13:00	05:00	0.949	1.034	5
14:00	06:00	0.962	1.020	5
15:00	07:00	0.990	0.986	4
16:00	08:00	0.990	0.916	5
17:00	09:00	0.989	0.982	5
18:00	10:00	1.006	0.851	4
19:00	11:00	0.968	0.873	4
20:00	12:00	0.966	0.893	4
21:00	13:00	0.978	0.919	4
22:00	14:00	0.988	0.929	3
23:00	15:00	1.006	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), 5.1% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 13.2% 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 Cat Carrier (Black Tabby)?: On PvP Horde US, Cat Carrier (Black Tabby) is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 Pacific) and dearest from 23:00 to 02:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 64% 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.