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, Blue Leather Bag is cheapest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 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 53% 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

17:00 to 20:00 UTC

18:00 to 21:00 CET · index 0.885 · typical 14s 28c

Best hours to sell

11:00 to 14:00 UTC

12:00 to 15:00 CET · index 1.113 · typical 22s 11c

Spread after the 5% cut

+53%

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 2 days of scans behind it over the last 28 days. Read the windows as a hint, not a rule.

Blue Leather Bagby hour · Normal Alliance EU

Hour (UTC)	CET	Typical	Lowest	Listings	Index	Days
00:00	01:00	13s 32c	12s 75c	57	0.902	4
01:00	02:00	13s	12s	79	0.906	3
02:00	03:00	14s 73c	11s 67c	57	1.190	3
03:00	04:00	14s 42c	12s 75c	53	1.028	4
04:00	05:00	11s 67c	10s 67c	48	0.757	3
05:00	06:00	14s 50c	12s 50c	51	1.037	2
06:00	07:00	13s	11s 33c	42	1.057	3
07:00	08:00	14s	11s 75c	35	1.045	4
08:00	09:00	13s 50c	11s 50c	29	1.020	4
09:00	10:00	20s 45c	16s 20c	24	1.088	5
10:00	11:00	22s 50c	14s 25c	25	1.103	4
11:00	12:00	22s 27c	21s 50c	25	1.106	4
12:00	13:00	22s 10c	20s 25c	23	1.112	4
13:00	14:00	21s 96c	19s	25	1.121	4
14:00	15:00	21s 50c	15s 75c	32	1.103	4
15:00	16:00	19s 25c	11s 75c	33	1.043	4
16:00	17:00	19s 17c	13s 50c	33	1.056	4
17:00	18:00	14s 25c	14s	39	0.882	4
18:00	19:00	14s 25c	13s 75c	48	0.885	4
19:00	20:00	14s 33c	13s 33c	71	0.889	3
20:00	21:00	14s 25c	13s	49	0.904	4
21:00	22:00	14s	12s 75c	57	0.905	4
22:00	23:00	14s 17c	12s	58	0.932	3
23:00	00:00	13s 83c	13s	42	0.929	4

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/856 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 Blue Leather Bag?: On Normal Alliance EU, Blue Leather Bag is cheapest from 17:00 to 20:00 UTC (18:00 to 21:00 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 53% 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.