When is the WoW Forever auction house cheapest during the day?

Across PvP Horde US, prices run cheapest around 06:00 UTC (22:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 5% 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, Leaden Mace is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 48% 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

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 Pacific · index 0.924 · typical 58s 34c

Best hours to sell

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 1.046 · typical 87s 33c

Spread after the 5% cut

+48%

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.

Leaden Maceby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	55s	53s 33c	35	0.963	3
01:00	17:00	56s 34c	54s	36	0.962	2
02:00	18:00	82s 67c	58s	24	1.116	4
03:00	19:00	62s 31c	58s	25	0.918	4
04:00	20:00	59s 4c	58s	27	0.895	4
05:00	21:00	53s 67c	51s 67c	37	0.959	3
06:00	22:00	96s 80c	95s 40c	26	0.958	5
07:00	23:00	1g 2s 50c	1g 1s	30	1.009	4
08:00	00:00	64s 13c	56s 50c	28	1.040	4
09:00	01:00	1g 1s 30c	95s 40c	23	1.086	5
10:00	02:00	96s 56c	95s 40c	26	1.012	5
11:00	03:00	96s 27c	94s 80c	25	1.019	5
12:00	04:00	95s 89c	90s 20c	25	1.025	5
13:00	05:00	96s 50c	74s 80c	24	1.039	5
14:00	06:00	90s 84c	70s 60c	22	1.027	5
15:00	07:00	87s 94c	70s 60c	21	1.012	5
16:00	08:00	96s 87c	70s 60c	21	1.084	5
17:00	09:00	77s 20c	59s 60c	22	0.983	5
18:00	10:00	72s 36c	59s 60c	23	0.953	5
19:00	11:00	76s 35c	57s 40c	25	0.982	5
20:00	12:00	80s 38c	59s	22	1.025	4
21:00	13:00	77s 33c	59s	24	0.972	4
22:00	14:00	73s 88c	57s 50c	21	0.960	4
23:00	15:00	77s 10c	57s 25c	26	0.999	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/865 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.008	1.029	5
01:00	17:00	1.012	0.987	4
02:00	18:00	1.044	0.949	6
03:00	19:00	1.018	1.020	6
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.076	6
05:00	21:00	0.965	1.104	4
06:00	22:00	0.962	1.131	6
07:00	23:00	1.008	1.119	4
08:00	00:00	1.038	1.047	5
09:00	01:00	1.050	1.008	6
10:00	02:00	0.994	1.034	6
11:00	03:00	0.983	0.998	6
12:00	04:00	0.981	0.984	6
13:00	05:00	0.974	0.968	6
14:00	06:00	0.996	0.948	6
15:00	07:00	1.000	0.934	5
16:00	08:00	1.014	0.908	6
17:00	09:00	1.017	0.949	6
18:00	10:00	1.030	0.988	6
19:00	11:00	0.997	1.032	6
20:00	12:00	0.990	0.926	5
21:00	13:00	0.984	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.923	4
23:00	15:00	0.984	0.984	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 06:00 UTC (22:00 Pacific), 3.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 5% 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 Leaden Mace?: On PvP Horde US, Leaden Mace is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 Pacific) and dearest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 48% 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.