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

Across Normal Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET), 4.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 6.4% 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 Normal Alliance EU 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 Normal Alliance EU, Formula: Enchant Shield - Stamina is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 22% after the 5 percent cut.

Current market: Normal Alliance EU. This browser opens every tool here until you pick another. Address for this market: ahledger.com/timing?market=forever/normal/alliance/eu

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

18:00 to 21:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 CET · index 0.874 · typical 1g 52s 22c

Best hours to sell

01:00 to 04:00 UTC

02:00 to 05:00 CET · index 1.158 · typical 1g 91s 86c

Spread after the 5% cut

+22%

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.

Formula: Enchant Shield - Staminaby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	1g 71s	1g 63s 67c	17	0.961	3
01:00	02:00	1g 71s	1g 63s 67c	15	0.965	3
02:00	03:00	2g 5s 83c	1g 63s 67c	13	1.517	3
03:00	04:00	1g 98s 75c	1g 97s 75c	11	0.992	4
04:00	05:00	95s 50c	79s 50c	21	0.929	2
05:00	06:00	2g 18s 25c	2g	8	1.066	2
06:00	07:00	1g 63s 67c	1g 53s	14	1.038	3
07:00	08:00	1g 95s 8c	1g 89s 75c	11	1.025	4
08:00	09:00	1g 89s 75c	1g 89s 75c	12	0.990	4
09:00	10:00	1g 76s	1g 76s	12	0.946	4
10:00	11:00	2g 15s	2g 5s	7	1.007	3
11:00	12:00	2g 15s	2g 5s	9	1.024	3
12:00	13:00	2g 15s	2g 5s	10	1.046	3
13:00	14:00	2g 15s	2g 5s	11	1.070	3
14:00	15:00	2g 7s 22c	2g	10	0.990	3
15:00	16:00	2g 4s 82c	2g	12	0.995	3
16:00	17:00	2g	1g 73s	12	0.986	3
17:00	18:00	2g	1g 71s	13	0.996	3
18:00	19:00	1g 73s 33c	1g 71s	16	0.874	3
19:00	20:00	1g 10s	1g 6s 50c	17	0.833	2
20:00	21:00	1g 73s 33c	1g 71s	12	0.915	3
21:00	22:00	1g 78s 47c	1g 71s	13	1.005	3
22:00	23:00	1g 7s 90c	1g 4s 50c	21	0.886	2
23:00	00:00	1g 71s	1g 69s 67c	15	0.942	3

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.normal.alliance.eu/11202 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.982	1.174	5
01:00	02:00	0.998	1.162	4
02:00	03:00	1.064	1.083	4
03:00	04:00	1.022	1.012	5
04:00	05:00	1.004	1.010	3
05:00	06:00	1.042	0.760	3
06:00	07:00	1.029	0.921	3
07:00	08:00	1.016	0.884	4
08:00	09:00	1.011	0.888	4
09:00	10:00	1.015	0.905	5
10:00	11:00	1.021	0.813	4
11:00	12:00	1.016	0.874	4
12:00	13:00	1.010	0.911	4
13:00	14:00	0.995	0.968	4
14:00	15:00	1.005	1.013	4
15:00	16:00	0.982	1.043	4
16:00	17:00	1.000	1.003	4
17:00	18:00	0.963	1.085	4
18:00	19:00	0.952	1.128	4
19:00	20:00	0.979	1.033	3
20:00	21:00	0.957	1.129	4
21:00	22:00	0.963	1.133	4
22:00	23:00	0.987	1.055	3
23:00	00:00	0.986	1.013	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 Normal Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET), 4.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 6.4% 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 Formula: Enchant Shield - Stamina?: On Normal Alliance EU, Formula: Enchant Shield - Stamina is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 01:00 to 04:00 UTC (02:00 to 05:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 22% 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 Normal Alliance EU through the night fills the gaps.