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), 3.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 08:00 UTC (09:00 CET), 3.5% 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 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, Violet Sorcerer's Leggings is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 CET) and dearest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 85% 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

09:00 to 12:00 UTC

10:00 to 13:00 CET · index 0.863 · typical 8g 80s 35c

Best hours to sell

17:00 to 20:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 CET · index 1.279 · typical 14g 62s

Spread after the 5% cut

+85%

buy at the cheap hours' lowest buyout, sell at the dear hours' typical price

Confidence

provisional

Provisional: the thinnest hour has 4 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days; 10 makes it settled.

Violet Sorcerer's Leggingsby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	10g 80s	9g 93s 50c	13	0.967	8
01:00	02:00	9g 62s 89c	9g 14s	11	1.010	7
02:00	03:00	9g 71s 83c	9g 54s 83c	6	1.012	6
03:00	04:00	9g 94s 20c	9g 83s 35c	7	0.990	5
04:00	05:00	10g 23s	9g 44s 19c	15	1.055	4
05:00	06:00	9g 27s	8g 49s 75c	12	0.881	4
06:00	07:00	10g 62s	9g 64s 75c	10	0.991	5
07:00	08:00	9g 10s 10c	8g 55s 50c	6	0.874	8
08:00	09:00	9g 91s 97c	8g 50s 50c	5	0.923	6
09:00	10:00	9g 28s 63c	7g 69s 12c	6	0.902	8
10:00	11:00	9g 32c	7g 45s 14c	6	0.889	7
11:00	12:00	8g 12s 11c	7g 33s 57c	6	0.799	7
12:00	13:00	9g 41s 61c	7g 92s 38c	7	0.913	8
13:00	14:00	9g 75s 26c	8g 26s	7	0.944	8
14:00	15:00	10g 84s	9g 88s 62c	6	0.987	8
15:00	16:00	10g 28s	9g 47s 44c	5	0.957	9
16:00	17:00	9g 94s 98c	9g 36s 78c	6	0.927	9
17:00	18:00	18g 78s	10g 30s	6	1.556	9
18:00	19:00	13g 9s	9g 68s 44c	6	1.181	9
19:00	20:00	11g 99s	8g 60s 37c	7	1.100	8
20:00	21:00	11g 29s	9g 62s 42c	8	1.018	9
21:00	22:00	11g 33s	9g 42s 75c	9	1.027	9
22:00	23:00	11g 86s	9g 79s	11	1.070	7
23:00	00:00	10g 98s	10g 17s	10	1.030	9

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/286988 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.977	1.230	9
01:00	02:00	0.961	1.153	9
02:00	03:00	1.004	1.074	8
03:00	04:00	0.974	1.069	7
04:00	05:00	0.973	1.017	5
05:00	06:00	0.990	0.899	6
06:00	07:00	0.984	0.854	6
07:00	08:00	0.993	0.805	9
08:00	09:00	1.035	0.756	8
09:00	10:00	1.019	0.756	10
10:00	11:00	1.026	0.802	10
11:00	12:00	1.007	0.832	9
12:00	13:00	1.024	0.883	10
13:00	14:00	1.027	0.931	10
14:00	15:00	1.017	0.969	9
15:00	16:00	1.015	1.012	10
16:00	17:00	1.009	1.052	10
17:00	18:00	1.008	1.064	10
18:00	19:00	0.999	1.099	10
19:00	20:00	0.996	1.107	9
20:00	21:00	0.984	1.146	10
21:00	22:00	0.978	1.176	10
22:00	23:00	0.995	1.145	8
23:00	00:00	1.006	1.170	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), 3.9% under the daily average, and dearest around 08:00 UTC (09:00 CET), 3.5% 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 Violet Sorcerer's Leggings?: On Normal Alliance EU, Violet Sorcerer's Leggings is cheapest from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC (10:00 to 13:00 CET) and dearest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 85% 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.