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, Giant Tarantula Fang is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 102% 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

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 CET · index 0.902 · typical 9s 83c

Best hours to sell

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 CET · index 1.109 · typical 19s 12c

Spread after the 5% cut

+102%

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.

Giant Tarantula Fangby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	12s 41c	9s	31	0.963	4
01:00	02:00	11s 58c	9s 33c	34	0.902	3
02:00	03:00	9s 75c	8s 67c	22	1.006	3
03:00	04:00	11s	9s 25c	28	0.923	4
04:00	05:00	9s	8s 50c	21	0.979	2
05:00	06:00	10s 75c	9s 50c	22	0.880	2
06:00	07:00	9s	8s 67c	16	0.928	3
07:00	08:00	9s 75c	8s 75c	21	0.898	4
08:00	09:00	9s 79c	9s 25c	20	0.914	4
09:00	10:00	10s 17c	8s 75c	19	0.969	4
10:00	11:00	11s 1c	10s 67c	22	1.033	3
11:00	12:00	21s 30c	17s 75c	25	1.150	4
12:00	13:00	18s 6c	13s	32	1.082	4
13:00	14:00	18s	12s	38	1.096	4
14:00	15:00	18s 6c	16s	38	1.111	4
15:00	16:00	17s 39c	14s 25c	40	1.090	4
16:00	17:00	17s 51c	14s	38	1.109	4
17:00	18:00	15s 79c	14s 25c	41	1.065	4
18:00	19:00	15s 11c	14s 50c	40	1.008	4
19:00	20:00	16s 38c	15s 67c	37	0.976	3
20:00	21:00	14s 50c	10s 25c	35	0.968	4
21:00	22:00	14s 30c	10s 25c	37	0.973	4
22:00	23:00	15s 81c	9s 33c	39	0.976	3
23:00	00:00	13s 65c	9s 50c	30	1.001	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.normal.alliance.eu/1287 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 Giant Tarantula Fang?: On Normal Alliance EU, Giant Tarantula Fang is cheapest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 102% 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.