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, Excavated Dagger is cheapest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 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 59% 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

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 CET · index 0.878 · typical 3g 84s 5c

Best hours to sell

21:00 to 00:00 UTC

22:00 to 01:00 CET · index 1.260 · typical 6g 7s 82c

Spread after the 5% cut

+59%

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.

Excavated Daggerby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	6g 22c	5g 35s 75c	7	1.215	8
01:00	02:00	4g 5s 29c	3g 43s	7	0.979	7
02:00	03:00	4g 54s 83c	3g 95s 33c	6	1.013	6
03:00	04:00	4g 80s 53c	4g 5s 80c	6	1.049	5
04:00	05:00	4g 30s	3g 52s 25c	6	1.097	4
05:00	06:00	3g 51s 55c	3g 27s 25c	6	0.968	4
06:00	07:00	3g 97s 31c	3g 73s 50c	3	0.939	6
07:00	08:00	4g 28s 50c	3g 93s 17c	2	0.986	9
08:00	09:00	3g 32s 63c	3g 19s	2	0.780	8
09:00	10:00	4g 36s 96c	4g 29s 29c	2	0.989	9
10:00	11:00	4g 10s 85c	3g 74s 71c	3	0.969	7
11:00	12:00	3g 68s 29c	3g 62s 86c	3	0.828	7
12:00	13:00	3g 86s 83c	3g 52s 57c	4	0.895	7
13:00	14:00	3g 97s 4c	3g 71s 13c	5	0.913	8
14:00	15:00	3g 71s 30c	3g 24s	5	0.871	7
15:00	16:00	4g 64s 62c	4g 27s 56c	5	0.972	9
16:00	17:00	4g 51s 87c	4g 16s 78c	5	0.946	9
17:00	18:00	4g 48s 67c	4g 37s 11c	5	0.943	9
18:00	19:00	4g 49s 98c	4g 18s	6	0.938	8
19:00	20:00	3g 87s 85c	3g 45s 38c	5	0.909	8
20:00	21:00	4g 82s 22c	3g 72s 67c	5	1.022	9
21:00	22:00	6g 21s 6c	5g 12s 89c	5	1.260	9
22:00	23:00	5g 98s 97c	4g 80s	7	1.299	7
23:00	00:00	6g 3s 44c	5g 38s 50c	6	1.223	8

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/287068 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 Excavated Dagger?: On Normal Alliance EU, Excavated Dagger is cheapest from 11:00 to 14:00 UTC (12:00 to 15:00 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 59% 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.