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, Pattern: Spider Belt is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 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 97% 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

20:00 to 23:00 UTC

21:00 to 00:00 CET · index 0.871 · typical 18s 22c

Best hours to sell

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 CET · index 1.190 · typical 35s 33c

Spread after the 5% cut

+97%

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.

Pattern: Spider Beltby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	20s 52c	20s 33c	23	0.912	3
01:00	02:00	11s 50c	11s	33	0.896	2
02:00	03:00	20s 33c	19s 67c	24	0.954	3
03:00	04:00	20s 33c	19s 67c	24	0.987	3
04:00	05:00	11s 50c	10s 50c	31	0.976	2
05:00	06:00	14s	12s	16	1.041	1
06:00	07:00	20s	18s 67c	16	1.033	3
07:00	08:00	19s 89c	18s 67c	14	1.048	3
08:00	09:00	19s 67c	18s 67c	12	1.052	3
09:00	10:00	27s 85c	21s 50c	9	1.069	4
10:00	11:00	35s 33c	34s 67c	8	1.143	3
11:00	12:00	35s 33c	31s 33c	9	1.164	3
12:00	13:00	35s 33c	31s 33c	10	1.191	3
13:00	14:00	35s 33c	31s 33c	11	1.215	3
14:00	15:00	33s 22c	29s 67c	12	1.132	3
15:00	16:00	25s 8c	21s 33c	14	0.940	3
16:00	17:00	25s 22c	21s 33c	14	0.973	3
17:00	18:00	23s 43c	21s 33c	15	0.900	3
18:00	19:00	23s 33c	21s 33c	14	0.905	3
19:00	20:00	15s	12s	18	0.941	2
20:00	21:00	21s 67c	20s 67c	15	0.877	3
21:00	22:00	21s	19s	16	0.864	3
22:00	23:00	12s	11s 50c	24	0.872	2
23:00	00:00	20s 80c	20s 33c	13	0.915	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/4353 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 Pattern: Spider Belt?: On Normal Alliance EU, Pattern: Spider Belt is cheapest from 20:00 to 23:00 UTC (21:00 to 00:00 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 97% 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.