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, Schematic: Minor Recombobulator is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 CET) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (23:00 to 02:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 524% 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

15:00 to 18:00 UTC

16:00 to 19:00 CET · index 0.929 · typical 17s 67c

Best hours to sell

22:00 to 01:00 UTC

23:00 to 02:00 CET · index 1.165 · typical 85s 44c

Spread after the 5% cut

+524%

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.

Schematic: Minor Recombobulatorby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	78s	30s 25c	71	1.092	4
01:00	02:00	74s 7c	36s	56	1.145	3
02:00	03:00	7s 33c	5s 33c	89	0.914	3
03:00	04:00	30s 50c	29s	60	0.889	4
04:00	05:00	4s	4s	71	1.021	2
05:00	06:00	52s	52s	24	0.881	2
06:00	07:00	7s	5s	67	1.052	3
07:00	08:00	29s 88c	28s 75c	48	1.004	4
08:00	09:00	29s 33c	26s 25c	45	0.966	4
09:00	10:00	28s 33c	21s 25c	47	0.979	4
10:00	11:00	33s 67c	26s 67c	42	0.945	3
11:00	12:00	29s 67c	17s 67c	47	0.954	3
12:00	13:00	23s 53c	17s 67c	56	0.947	3
13:00	14:00	18s 33c	17s 67c	64	0.930	3
14:00	15:00	18s 17c	17s 67c	63	0.954	3
15:00	16:00	17s 67c	14s 67c	72	0.906	3
16:00	17:00	17s 67c	14s 67c	75	0.938	3
17:00	18:00	17s 67c	9s 67c	76	0.942	3
18:00	19:00	17s 67c	7s 67c	79	0.974	3
19:00	20:00	4s 50c	4s	73	1.004	2
20:00	21:00	83s 50c	78s 25c	58	1.111	4
21:00	22:00	79s 69c	78s	54	1.048	4
22:00	23:00	99s 83c	99s 33c	43	1.295	3
23:00	00:00	78s 50c	30s 75c	50	1.110	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/14639 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 Schematic: Minor Recombobulator?: On Normal Alliance EU, Schematic: Minor Recombobulator is cheapest from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC (16:00 to 19:00 CET) and dearest from 22:00 to 01:00 UTC (23:00 to 02:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 524% 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.