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, Defias Enforcer's Chest is cheapest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 CET) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 56% 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

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 CET · index 0.865 · typical 50g 19s

Best hours to sell

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 CET · index 1.196 · typical 70g 87s

Spread after the 5% cut

+56%

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.

Defias Enforcer's Chestby hour · PvP Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	57g 62s	52g 29s	4	0.941	4
01:00	02:00	59g 49s	54g 5s	3	1.002	4
02:00	03:00	80g 66s	80g 66s	2	1.107	1
03:00	04:00	61g 51s	56g 7s	3	0.957	3
04:00	05:00	80g 66s	80g 66s	2	1.123	1
05:00	06:00	80g 66s	80g 66s	1	1.115	1
06:00	07:00	67g 83s	67g 83s	3	1.017	2
07:00	08:00	45g 27s	43g 77s	4	0.778	2
08:00	09:00	56g 40s	55g 73s	4	0.890	3
09:00	10:00	61g 92s	55g 73s	3	0.997	3
10:00	11:00	57g 33s	57g 33s	2	0.965	4
11:00	12:00	68g 12s	68g 11s	2	1.138	3
12:00	13:00	72g 97s	67g 97s	3	1.238	4
13:00	14:00	71g 52s	62g 5s	4	1.212	4
14:00	15:00	65g 5s	57g 30s	5	1.096	4
15:00	16:00	65g 13s	60g 7s	6	1.131	3
16:00	17:00	58g 59s	51g 80s	6	0.987	4
17:00	18:00	55g 73s	49g 40s	9	0.947	3
18:00	19:00	55g 6s	46g 36s	10	0.940	3
19:00	20:00	52g 76s	38g 77s	12	0.965	2
20:00	21:00	51g 8s	42g 2s	6	0.860	4
21:00	22:00	51g 91s	42g 80s	6	0.863	4
22:00	23:00	56g 77s	49g 77s	6	0.927	4
23:00	00:00	41g 88s	36g 63s	5	0.805	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.pvp.alliance.eu/287020 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 Defias Enforcer's Chest?: On PvP Alliance EU, Defias Enforcer's Chest is cheapest from 21:00 to 00:00 UTC (22:00 to 01:00 CET) and dearest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 56% 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.