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), 4.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 5.9% 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, Plans: Ironforge Breastplate is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 CET) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 42% 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

03:00 to 06:00 UTC

04:00 to 07:00 CET · index 0.886 · typical 23s 11c

Best hours to sell

00:00 to 03:00 UTC

01:00 to 04:00 CET · index 1.152 · typical 33s 19c

Spread after the 5% cut

+42%

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.

Plans: Ironforge Breastplateby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	32s 90c	27s 33c	18	0.958	3
01:00	02:00	20s	19s	10	0.853	2
02:00	03:00	46s 67c	28s 33c	14	1.645	3
03:00	04:00	29s 33c	27s 67c	12	0.900	3
04:00	05:00	20s	19s	7	0.876	2
05:00	06:00	20s	20s	6	0.883	1
06:00	07:00	28s 33c	27s 67c	10	0.928	3
07:00	08:00	28s	26s 67c	11	0.930	3
08:00	09:00	28s 33c	22s	10	0.952	3
09:00	10:00	28s 33c	22s 67c	10	0.968	3
10:00	11:00	31s 50c	24s 50c	15	1.035	2
11:00	12:00	30s 34c	24s 50c	17	1.024	2
12:00	13:00	34s 37c	26s 67c	13	0.918	3
13:00	14:00	41s 67c	39s 67c	13	1.047	3
14:00	15:00	41s 67c	39s 67c	13	1.030	3
15:00	16:00	41s 5c	38s 33c	15	1.031	3
16:00	17:00	39s 52c	36s 33c	16	1.001	3
17:00	18:00	38s 83c	36s 33c	19	0.991	3
18:00	19:00	38s 27c	31s 67c	19	0.992	3
19:00	20:00	24s 50c	14s	18	0.939	2
20:00	21:00	38s	27s 33c	21	1.017	3
21:00	22:00	38s	24s 67c	21	1.033	3
22:00	23:00	22s 67c	13s	11	1.046	3
23:00	00:00	34s 67c	29s	17	1.005	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/6735 on the API.

The whole market by hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Price index	Listings index	Days
00:00	01:00	0.984	1.184	5
01:00	02:00	0.999	1.163	4
02:00	03:00	1.059	1.088	4
03:00	04:00	1.019	1.021	5
04:00	05:00	1.000	1.018	3
05:00	06:00	1.039	0.764	3
06:00	07:00	1.019	0.931	3
07:00	08:00	1.014	0.892	4
08:00	09:00	1.005	0.892	4
09:00	10:00	1.009	0.907	5
10:00	11:00	1.016	0.812	4
11:00	12:00	1.011	0.869	4
12:00	13:00	1.010	0.907	4
13:00	14:00	0.997	0.961	4
14:00	15:00	1.007	1.005	4
15:00	16:00	0.984	1.037	4
16:00	17:00	1.003	0.999	4
17:00	18:00	0.968	1.084	4
18:00	19:00	0.958	1.127	4
19:00	20:00	0.989	1.013	3
20:00	21:00	0.960	1.128	4
21:00	22:00	0.967	1.133	4
22:00	23:00	0.989	1.055	3
23:00	00:00	0.996	1.009	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), 4.2% under the daily average, and dearest around 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET), 5.9% 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 Plans: Ironforge Breastplate?: On Normal Alliance EU, Plans: Ironforge Breastplate is cheapest from 03:00 to 06:00 UTC (04:00 to 07:00 CET) and dearest from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC (01:00 to 04:00 CET). Buying in the cheap hours and selling in the dear ones returns about 42% 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.