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

Across PvP Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 00:00 UTC (01:00 CET), 5.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 12:00 UTC (13:00 CET), 5% 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 PvP 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 PvP Alliance EU, Witherbark Hatecleaver is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 CET) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 35% after the 5 percent cut.

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

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

09:00 to 12:00 CET · index 0.876 · typical 5g 78s 94c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 CET · index 1.212 · typical 8g 22s 36c

Spread after the 5% cut

+35%

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 1 day of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Witherbark Hatecleaverby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	8g 3s 40c	8g 3s 40c	3	1.161	5
01:00	02:00	7g 55s 75c	7g 55s 75c	3	1.034	4
02:00	03:00	7g 94s	7g 94s	2	0.946	1
03:00	04:00	5g 7s 67c	5g 7s 67c	2	0.966	3
04:00	05:00	7g 97s	7g 97s	2	0.835	2
05:00	06:00	7g 97s	7g 97s	2	0.839	2
06:00	07:00	6g 26s 50c	6g 26s 50c	2	1.093	2
07:00	08:00	4g 59s	4g 59s	1	1.242	1
08:00	09:00	5g 84s 33c	5g 84s 33c	1	0.935	3
09:00	10:00	6g 47s	6g 47s	3	0.811	2
10:00	11:00	5g 5s 50c	5g 5s 50c	2	0.882	4
11:00	12:00	5g 94s	5g 47s	3	1.035	2
12:00	13:00	5g 4s 33c	4g 54s 67c	3	0.937	3
13:00	14:00	5g 61s 50c	5g 33s 50c	3	0.888	4
14:00	15:00	6g 54s 67c	6g 21s 33c	4	1.009	3
15:00	16:00	5g 66s 50c	5g 39s 50c	3	0.909	4
16:00	17:00	5g 70s 50c	4g 79s 25c	3	0.926	4
17:00	18:00	7g 49s 73c	6g 83s 40c	2	0.958	5
18:00	19:00	7g 25c	6g 83s 40c	2	0.890	5
19:00	20:00	7g 45s 50c	7g 39s 50c	2	0.921	4
20:00	21:00	7g 72s 50c	7g 68s 50c	2	1.149	6
21:00	22:00	7g 72s 50c	7g 68s 50c	2	1.165	6
22:00	23:00	7g 10s 25c	7g 10s 25c	3	1.170	4
23:00	00:00	9g 84s 33c	9g 84s 33c	3	1.300	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.pvp.alliance.eu/284063 on the API.

The whole market by hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.948	1.247	7
01:00	02:00	0.985	1.099	9
02:00	03:00	0.997	1.062	6
03:00	04:00	0.987	1.023	7
04:00	05:00	0.984	0.981	6
05:00	06:00	1.016	0.874	5
06:00	07:00	1.037	0.837	8
07:00	08:00	1.003	0.826	9
08:00	09:00	1.003	0.813	10
09:00	10:00	0.994	0.832	10
10:00	11:00	1.003	0.843	10
11:00	12:00	1.023	0.846	10
12:00	13:00	1.050	0.914	8
13:00	14:00	1.012	0.921	9
14:00	15:00	1.018	0.994	9
15:00	16:00	1.003	1.006	9
16:00	17:00	1.021	1.009	10
17:00	18:00	0.980	1.075	9
18:00	19:00	0.996	1.072	8
19:00	20:00	0.979	1.121	8
20:00	21:00	1.001	1.081	8
21:00	22:00	0.982	1.169	7
22:00	23:00	1.011	1.141	8
23:00	00:00	0.966	1.212	8

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 PvP Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 00:00 UTC (01:00 CET), 5.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 12:00 UTC (13:00 CET), 5% 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 Witherbark Hatecleaver?: On PvP Alliance EU, Witherbark Hatecleaver is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 CET) and dearest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 35% 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 PvP Alliance EU through the night fills the gaps.