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), 3.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.9% 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, Bandit Buckler is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 91% 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

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

00:00 to 03:00 Pacific · index 0.853 · typical 17s 7c

Best hours to sell

02:00 to 05:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 Pacific · index 1.155 · typical 27s 68c

Spread after the 5% cut

+91%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 3 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Bandit Bucklerby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	21s 38c	17s	7	0.833	4
01:00	17:00	29s 44c	24s 33c	5	1.149	3
02:00	18:00	27s 80c	20s 20c	6	1.128	5
03:00	19:00	28s 3c	20s	6	1.178	5
04:00	20:00	27s 20c	17s 80c	8	1.158	5
05:00	21:00	15s 47c	13s 33c	9	0.920	3
06:00	22:00	21s 60c	15s 20c	10	0.960	5
07:00	23:00	21s 59c	14s 75c	9	0.952	4
08:00	00:00	14s 25c	14s	10	0.807	4
09:00	01:00	19s 33c	14s 40c	9	0.894	5
10:00	02:00	17s 64c	12s 80c	9	0.857	5
11:00	03:00	21s 67c	14s 60c	7	0.982	5
12:00	04:00	21s 40c	15s 20c	7	1.046	5
13:00	05:00	22s 66c	14s 20c	8	1.079	5
14:00	06:00	23s 83c	14s 80c	8	1.123	5
15:00	07:00	22s 51c	14s 80c	7	1.060	5
16:00	08:00	22s 47c	15s 80c	7	1.070	5
17:00	09:00	19s	16s 75c	5	0.880	4
18:00	10:00	29s 75c	21s 40c	6	1.221	5
19:00	11:00	21s 79c	13s 50c	9	1.097	4
20:00	12:00	20s 43c	16s 20c	8	0.887	5
21:00	13:00	20s 40c	15s	9	0.890	5
22:00	14:00	20s 56c	12s 25c	10	1.016	4
23:00	15:00	16s 13c	12s	10	0.814	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/9778 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.987	1.016	5
01:00	17:00	1.026	0.979	4
02:00	18:00	1.037	0.937	6
03:00	19:00	1.023	1.016	6
04:00	20:00	0.984	1.063	6
05:00	21:00	0.976	1.091	4
06:00	22:00	0.968	1.129	6
07:00	23:00	1.009	1.124	4
08:00	00:00	1.038	1.062	5
09:00	01:00	1.049	1.021	6
10:00	02:00	0.997	1.059	6
11:00	03:00	0.993	1.033	6
12:00	04:00	0.993	1.031	6
13:00	05:00	0.992	1.017	6
14:00	06:00	0.991	1.010	6
15:00	07:00	0.992	1.001	5
16:00	08:00	0.994	0.969	6
17:00	09:00	0.992	0.871	5
18:00	10:00	1.035	0.878	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.898	5
20:00	12:00	0.992	0.935	5
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.961	5
22:00	14:00	0.972	0.921	4
23:00	15:00	0.979	0.977	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), 3.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 09:00 UTC (01:00 Pacific), 4.9% 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 Bandit Buckler?: On PvP Horde US, Bandit Buckler is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (00:00 to 03:00 Pacific) and dearest from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 91% 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.