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

Across Normal Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 01:00 UTC (02:00 CET), 3.6% under the daily average, and dearest around 08:00 UTC (09:00 CET), 3.3% 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, Imbued Scaled Cuffs is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 CET) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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

06:00 to 09:00 UTC

07:00 to 10:00 CET · index 0.831 · typical 50s 80c

Best hours to sell

12:00 to 15:00 UTC

13:00 to 16:00 CET · index 1.177 · typical 73s 77c

Spread after the 5% cut

+38%

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.

Imbued Scaled Cuffsby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	68s 49c	61s 39c	8	0.935	5
01:00	02:00	63s 54c	57s 19c	4	0.869	5
02:00	03:00	41s 66c	36s 99c	5	0.866	3
03:00	04:00	36s 99c	36s 99c	3	0.817	3
04:00	05:00	52s 49c	52s 49c	3	0.890	4
05:00	06:00	79s 99c	79s 99c	3	0.920	2
06:00	07:00	40s 33c	40s 32c	2	0.819	3
07:00	08:00	43s 75c	43s 75c	1	0.828	4
08:00	09:00	68s 33c	68s 33c	2	0.845	3
09:00	10:00	90s	90s	3	1.090	2
10:00	11:00	66s	66s	2	0.830	4
11:00	12:00	63s 83c	63s 83c	2	1.101	6
12:00	13:00	72s 17c	71s 50c	3	1.198	6
13:00	14:00	74s 46c	73s 57c	3	1.158	7
14:00	15:00	74s 68c	73s 57c	3	1.174	7
15:00	16:00	74s 40c	71s 86c	4	1.181	7
16:00	17:00	82s	79s 28c	4	1.153	7
17:00	18:00	80s 35c	75s 50c	5	1.095	6
18:00	19:00	81s	78s 33c	5	1.140	6
19:00	20:00	76s 61c	71s 39c	6	1.103	5
20:00	21:00	61s 39c	52s 42c	5	1.072	7
21:00	22:00	68s 83c	63s 16c	6	0.978	6
22:00	23:00	68s 95c	62s 50c	6	0.991	6
23:00	00:00	73s 59c	66s 39c	8	0.944	5

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/282716 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.973	1.158	9
01:00	02:00	0.964	1.158	9
02:00	03:00	1.007	1.077	8
03:00	04:00	0.978	1.067	7
04:00	05:00	0.972	1.008	5
05:00	06:00	0.993	0.893	6
06:00	07:00	0.985	0.847	6
07:00	08:00	0.995	0.799	9
08:00	09:00	1.033	0.748	8
09:00	10:00	1.016	0.749	10
10:00	11:00	1.021	0.792	10
11:00	12:00	1.008	0.819	9
12:00	13:00	1.025	0.876	10
13:00	14:00	1.030	0.929	10
14:00	15:00	1.018	0.973	9
15:00	16:00	1.016	1.013	10
16:00	17:00	1.010	1.058	10
17:00	18:00	1.007	1.072	10
18:00	19:00	0.997	1.114	10
19:00	20:00	0.993	1.124	9
20:00	21:00	0.983	1.168	10
21:00	22:00	0.980	1.197	10
22:00	23:00	0.992	1.166	8
23:00	00:00	1.006	1.195	10

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 01:00 UTC (02:00 CET), 3.6% under the daily average, and dearest around 08:00 UTC (09:00 CET), 3.3% 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 Imbued Scaled Cuffs?: On Normal Alliance EU, Imbued Scaled Cuffs is cheapest from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC (07:00 to 10:00 CET) and dearest from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC (13:00 to 16:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 38% 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.