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), 4.7% 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, Shadowhide Two-handed Sword is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 CET) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 67% 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

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 CET · index 0.851 · typical 26s 24c

Best hours to sell

05:00 to 08:00 UTC

06:00 to 09:00 CET · index 1.241 · typical 43s 40c

Spread after the 5% cut

+67%

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.

Shadowhide Two-handed Swordby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	29s 14c	27s 75c	18	0.847	4
01:00	02:00	25s	24s	16	0.775	3
02:00	03:00	24s 58c	22s 33c	19	0.929	3
03:00	04:00	23s 89c	21s 33c	18	0.907	3
04:00	05:00	23s	20s 50c	20	0.940	2
05:00	06:00	62s 13c	60s 50c	9	1.457	2
06:00	07:00	26s 33c	21s 33c	15	1.023	3
07:00	08:00	41s 75c	36s 75c	8	1.243	4
08:00	09:00	37s 89c	32s	10	1.122	4
09:00	10:00	37s 48c	29s 25c	12	1.138	4
10:00	11:00	37s 86c	29s 67c	13	1.085	3
11:00	12:00	35s 23c	28s 25c	10	1.003	4
12:00	13:00	37s 54c	25s 33c	16	1.103	3
13:00	14:00	35s 11c	26s 67c	19	1.049	3
14:00	15:00	29s 74c	26s 67c	24	0.952	3
15:00	16:00	29s 67c	26s	24	0.957	3
16:00	17:00	29s 33c	25s 67c	22	0.952	3
17:00	18:00	29s 43c	26s 33c	21	0.961	3
18:00	19:00	28s 2c	24s 33c	24	0.941	3
19:00	20:00	26s 8c	22s 50c	15	1.023	2
20:00	21:00	26s 92c	25s	18	0.810	4
21:00	22:00	26s 53c	23s 67c	20	0.912	3
22:00	23:00	32s 20c	30s	15	0.920	3
23:00	00:00	32s 75c	29s	14	0.950	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/1460 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.983	1.172	5
01:00	02:00	0.998	1.160	4
02:00	03:00	1.064	1.081	4
03:00	04:00	1.022	1.010	5
04:00	05:00	1.004	1.008	3
05:00	06:00	1.042	0.760	3
06:00	07:00	1.029	0.920	3
07:00	08:00	1.017	0.883	4
08:00	09:00	1.012	0.887	4
09:00	10:00	1.015	0.904	5
10:00	11:00	1.021	0.811	4
11:00	12:00	1.016	0.873	4
12:00	13:00	1.011	0.910	4
13:00	14:00	0.995	0.967	4
14:00	15:00	1.006	1.011	4
15:00	16:00	0.982	1.042	4
16:00	17:00	1.000	1.002	4
17:00	18:00	0.963	1.084	4
18:00	19:00	0.953	1.127	4
19:00	20:00	0.979	1.031	3
20:00	21:00	0.957	1.128	4
21:00	22:00	0.963	1.131	4
22:00	23:00	0.980	1.087	3
23:00	00:00	0.987	1.011	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), 4.7% 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 Shadowhide Two-handed Sword?: On Normal Alliance EU, Shadowhide Two-handed Sword is cheapest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 CET) and dearest from 05:00 to 08:00 UTC (06:00 to 09:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 67% 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.