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

Across Normal Alliance EU, prices run cheapest around 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET), 4.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 6.4% 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, Tasty Lion Steak is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 84% 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

18:00 to 21:00 UTC

19:00 to 22:00 CET · index 0.865 · typical 5s 62c

Best hours to sell

10:00 to 13:00 UTC

11:00 to 14:00 CET · index 1.130 · typical 9s 82c

Spread after the 5% cut

+84%

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.

Tasty Lion Steakby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	11s 83c	11s 64c	43	1.066	3
01:00	02:00	4s 99c	4s 90c	65	0.903	2
02:00	03:00	8s 32c	7s 60c	41	0.910	3
03:00	04:00	9s 43c	7s 61c	33	0.997	3
04:00	05:00	4s 99c	4s 93c	40	0.948	2
05:00	06:00	6s 12c	4s 99c	40	1.031	1
06:00	07:00	8s 25c	8s 13c	15	1.024	3
07:00	08:00	8s 33c	8s 25c	17	1.059	3
08:00	09:00	8s 31c	8s 11c	19	1.073	3
09:00	10:00	8s 29c	6s 26c	23	1.082	3
10:00	11:00	9s 90c	6s 50c	25	1.113	2
11:00	12:00	9s 86c	6s	27	1.126	2
12:00	13:00	9s 71c	6s 39c	28	1.151	2
13:00	14:00	8s 7c	5s 83c	34	1.040	2
14:00	15:00	6s 47c	6s 25c	40	0.889	2
15:00	16:00	6s 45c	6s 5c	48	0.909	2
16:00	17:00	6s 52c	5s 90c	47	0.959	2
17:00	18:00	6s 32c	5s 25c	50	0.931	2
18:00	19:00	5s 92c	5s 25c	64	0.885	2
19:00	20:00	5s 64c	5s 24c	48	0.879	2
20:00	21:00	5s 30c	4s 74c	54	0.831	2
21:00	22:00	16s 88c	11s 22c	37	1.247	3
22:00	23:00	5s 34c	5s 22c	55	0.882	2
23:00	00:00	11s 96c	11s 81c	24	1.066	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.normal.alliance.eu/3728 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.982	1.174	5
01:00	02:00	0.998	1.162	4
02:00	03:00	1.064	1.083	4
03:00	04:00	1.022	1.012	5
04:00	05:00	1.004	1.010	3
05:00	06:00	1.042	0.760	3
06:00	07:00	1.029	0.921	3
07:00	08:00	1.016	0.884	4
08:00	09:00	1.011	0.888	4
09:00	10:00	1.015	0.905	5
10:00	11:00	1.021	0.813	4
11:00	12:00	1.016	0.874	4
12:00	13:00	1.010	0.911	4
13:00	14:00	0.995	0.968	4
14:00	15:00	1.005	1.013	4
15:00	16:00	0.982	1.043	4
16:00	17:00	1.000	1.003	4
17:00	18:00	0.963	1.085	4
18:00	19:00	0.952	1.128	4
19:00	20:00	0.979	1.033	3
20:00	21:00	0.957	1.129	4
21:00	22:00	0.963	1.133	4
22:00	23:00	0.987	1.055	3
23:00	00:00	0.986	1.013	4

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 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET), 4.8% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 6.4% 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 Tasty Lion Steak?: On Normal Alliance EU, Tasty Lion Steak is cheapest from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC (19:00 to 22:00 CET) and dearest from 10:00 to 13:00 UTC (11:00 to 14:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 84% 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.