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), 4.6% 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, Huntsman's Bands is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 31% 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

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 Pacific · index 0.825 · typical 83s 68c

Best hours to sell

06:00 to 09:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 Pacific · index 1.185 · typical 1g 3s 23c

Spread after the 5% cut

+31%

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.

Huntsman's Bandsby hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	16:00	80s 25c	75s 67c	12	0.913	3
01:00	17:00	67s 38c	63s 50c	14	0.815	2
02:00	18:00	81s 67c	59s	11	0.945	3
03:00	19:00	81s 90c	56s 67c	11	0.958	3
04:00	20:00	89s 67c	55s	15	1.060	3
05:00	21:00	93s	55s	17	1.087	3
06:00	22:00	97s 86c	53s 33c	18	1.142	3
07:00	23:00	1g 4s 8c	56s 33c	15	1.210	3
08:00	00:00	1g 7s 75c	71s	11	1.203	4
09:00	01:00	93s 98c	71s	11	1.048	4
10:00	02:00	1g 8s 75c	71s	14	1.231	4
11:00	03:00	1g 70c	71s	13	1.142	4
12:00	04:00	95s 50c	63s 50c	15	1.091	4
13:00	05:00	1g 86s 15c	1g 58s 20c	11	1.196	5
14:00	06:00	1g 79s 26c	1g 58s 20c	10	1.111	5
15:00	07:00	1g 64s 67c	1g 51s 20c	11	0.952	5
16:00	08:00	73s 57c	54s 25c	12	0.846	4
17:00	09:00	73s 42c	54s 25c	12	0.849	4
18:00	10:00	76s 48c	59s 33c	8	0.851	3
19:00	11:00	73s 53c	55s	8	0.814	3
20:00	12:00	85s 3c	55s	8	0.943	3
21:00	13:00	91s 63c	59s 33c	7	1.034	3
22:00	14:00	82s 83c	69s 50c	6	0.746	4
23:00	15:00	87s 97c	80s	7	0.816	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/9886 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Horde US

Hour (UTC)	Pacific	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	16:00	1.010	1.017	5
01:00	17:00	1.021	0.986	4
02:00	18:00	1.045	0.943	6
03:00	19:00	1.024	1.018	6
04:00	20:00	0.978	1.071	6
05:00	21:00	0.969	1.112	4
06:00	22:00	0.962	1.143	6
07:00	23:00	1.004	1.134	4
08:00	00:00	1.034	1.071	5
09:00	01:00	1.046	1.030	6
10:00	02:00	0.991	1.063	6
11:00	03:00	0.983	1.034	6
12:00	04:00	0.980	1.030	6
13:00	05:00	0.977	1.013	6
14:00	06:00	0.990	1.000	6
15:00	07:00	0.997	0.988	5
16:00	08:00	1.022	0.966	6
17:00	09:00	0.996	0.867	5
18:00	10:00	1.036	0.869	5
19:00	11:00	1.005	0.884	5
20:00	12:00	0.989	0.923	5
21:00	13:00	0.980	0.954	5
22:00	14:00	0.970	0.915	4
23:00	15:00	0.990	0.969	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), 4.6% 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 Huntsman's Bands?: On PvP Horde US, Huntsman's Bands is cheapest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 Pacific) and dearest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 Pacific). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 31% 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.