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: Robes of Arcana is cheapest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 CET) and dearest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 143% 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

14:00 to 17:00 UTC

15:00 to 18:00 CET · index 0.788 · typical 2g 44s 26c

Best hours to sell

19:00 to 22:00 UTC

20:00 to 23:00 CET · index 1.279 · typical 3g 79s 49c

Spread after the 5% cut

+143%

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: Robes of Arcanaby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	2g 93s	2g 58s	9	1.115	3
01:00	02:00	3g 18s 75c	2g 67s 50c	13	1.012	2
02:00	03:00	3g	2g 94s 50c	10	0.935	2
03:00	04:00	3g	2g 90s	8	0.936	2
04:00	05:00	3g	2g 90s	7	0.939	2
05:00	06:00	4g	1g 90s	10	1.025	1
06:00	07:00	2g 66s 67c	1g 96s 67c	6	0.932	3
07:00	08:00	2g 65s 56c	1g 85s 67c	5	0.922	3
08:00	09:00	2g 48s 75c	2g 33s 33c	5	0.847	3
09:00	10:00	2g 41s 67c	2g 10s	6	0.827	3
10:00	11:00	2g 75s	1g 89s 50c	11	0.843	2
11:00	12:00	2g 70s	1g 72s	13	0.829	2
12:00	13:00	2g 68s 75c	1g 72s	11	0.835	2
13:00	14:00	2g 75s	1g 31s 50c	10	0.856	2
14:00	15:00	2g 77s 78c	1g 75s	9	0.874	2
15:00	16:00	2g 75s	1g 75s	9	0.876	2
16:00	17:00	1g 80s	95s	7	0.613	2
17:00	18:00	4g 2s 15c	3g 90s	5	1.273	2
18:00	19:00	3g 90s	3g 75s	6	1.240	2
19:00	20:00	4g 11s 43c	2g	6	1.312	2
20:00	21:00	3g 37s 4c	1g 76s 33c	7	1.282	3
21:00	22:00	3g 90s	1g 50s	9	1.242	2
22:00	23:00	3g 79s 67c	2g 65s	9	1.199	2
23:00	00:00	3g 90s	3g 22s 50c	6	1.236	2

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/5773 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: Robes of Arcana?: On Normal Alliance EU, Pattern: Robes of Arcana is cheapest from 14:00 to 17:00 UTC (15:00 to 18:00 CET) and dearest from 19:00 to 22:00 UTC (20:00 to 23:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 143% 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.