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), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 4.1% 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, Renegade Belt is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 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 79% 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 0.800 · typical 75s 80c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 Pacific · index 1.261 · typical 1g 10s 16c

Spread after the 5% cut

+79%

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.

Renegade Beltby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	92s 17c	44s 67c	24	1.184	3
01:00	17:00	84s 23c	46s	23	1.111	2
02:00	18:00	92s 58c	55s 25c	19	1.091	4
03:00	19:00	89s 7c	53s 75c	22	1.078	4
04:00	20:00	88s 4c	42s 25c	26	1.069	4
05:00	21:00	80s 3c	38s	33	1.015	3
06:00	22:00	91s 38c	55s 60c	22	1.005	5
07:00	23:00	84s 39c	55s 75c	24	0.926	4
08:00	00:00	61s 73c	38s 25c	22	0.771	4
09:00	01:00	76s 82c	51s 80c	17	0.850	5
10:00	02:00	78s 50c	58s 75c	14	0.814	4
11:00	03:00	78s 49c	51s 80c	18	0.878	5
12:00	04:00	78s 76c	51s 80c	19	0.891	5
13:00	05:00	76s 13c	58s 75c	16	0.800	4
14:00	06:00	76s 61c	58s 50c	15	0.809	4
15:00	07:00	74s 67c	58s 50c	15	0.792	4
16:00	08:00	75s 83c	58s 50c	13	0.813	4
17:00	09:00	75s 50c	58s 50c	14	0.814	4
18:00	10:00	1g 2s 57c	76s	14	1.157	4
19:00	11:00	1g 2s 94c	76s	14	1.171	4
20:00	12:00	91s 33c	59s 67c	20	1.179	3
21:00	13:00	1g 9s 86c	82s 25c	14	1.249	4
22:00	14:00	1g 8s 75c	82s 25c	13	1.242	4
23:00	15:00	1g 11s 88c	76s	16	1.291	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/9869 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	0.988	1.000	5
01:00	17:00	1.041	0.953	4
02:00	18:00	1.031	0.934	6
03:00	19:00	1.036	1.019	6
04:00	20:00	0.998	1.082	6
05:00	21:00	1.002	1.151	4
06:00	22:00	0.983	1.190	6
07:00	23:00	1.008	1.208	4
08:00	00:00	1.027	1.134	5
09:00	01:00	1.035	1.102	6
10:00	02:00	0.995	1.058	5
11:00	03:00	0.989	1.154	6
12:00	04:00	0.984	1.020	5
13:00	05:00	0.980	0.990	5
14:00	06:00	0.984	0.962	5
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.918	4
16:00	08:00	1.000	0.867	5
17:00	09:00	0.986	0.869	5
18:00	10:00	1.027	0.858	5
19:00	11:00	1.002	0.865	5
20:00	12:00	0.992	0.903	5
21:00	13:00	0.973	0.923	5
22:00	14:00	0.966	0.889	4
23:00	15:00	0.973	0.949	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), 3.4% under the daily average, and dearest around 01:00 UTC (17:00 Pacific), 4.1% 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 Renegade Belt?: On PvP Horde US, Renegade Belt is cheapest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (05:00 to 08:00 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 79% 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.