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, Nightsky Wristbands is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 CET) and dearest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 109% 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

08:00 to 11:00 UTC

09:00 to 12:00 CET · index 0.825 · typical 45s 30c

Best hours to sell

13:00 to 16:00 UTC

14:00 to 17:00 CET · index 1.234 · typical 82s 10c

Spread after the 5% cut

+109%

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.

Nightsky Wristbandsby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	52s 57c	51s	4	1.002	3
01:00	02:00	90s	90s	10	1.063	1
02:00	03:00	48s 33c	48s 33c	5	0.818	3
03:00	04:00	48s 33c	48s 33c	6	0.822	3
04:00	05:00	55s	54s	9	0.928	2
05:00	06:00	90s	88s	13	1.215	1
06:00	07:00	48s 33c	47s 67c	7	0.864	3
07:00	08:00	48s 33c	38s 33c	6	0.867	3
08:00	09:00	48s 89c	36s 67c	6	0.887	3
09:00	10:00	46s	37s	6	0.859	3
10:00	11:00	41s	38s 33c	5	0.729	3
11:00	12:00	56s	48s	14	0.912	1
12:00	13:00	56s 75c	32s	15	0.943	1
13:00	14:00	85s 25c	75s 50c	10	1.271	2
14:00	15:00	85s 61c	43s 50c	11	1.291	2
15:00	16:00	75s 45c	43s 50c	12	1.141	2
16:00	17:00	84s 25c	43s 50c	9	1.260	2
17:00	18:00	49s 22c	42s 50c	10	0.781	2
18:00	19:00	46s 32c	32s 50c	11	0.743	2
19:00	20:00	62s 72c	36s 50c	8	0.958	2
20:00	21:00	65s 3c	45s 33c	4	1.154	3
21:00	22:00	65s 33c	65s	3	1.150	3
22:00	23:00	67s 86c	59s	4	1.168	2
23:00	00:00	40s 40c	28s	4	1.174	1

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/6407 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 Nightsky Wristbands?: On Normal Alliance EU, Nightsky Wristbands is cheapest from 08:00 to 11:00 UTC (09:00 to 12:00 CET) and dearest from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC (14:00 to 17:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 109% 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.