Start with the liquid balance
Count gold on characters and in accessible banks, but do not add the full sticker price of listed goods. Until a buyer appears, that value has an uncertain realization date and price.
If part of the inventory sells consistently, build a separate cautious case with expected sell-through. Do not convert the entire auction house into cash with one field.
Build effective GPH
For gathering, remove expenses and haircut advertised income for materials not sold in the chosen cycle. For crafting, use post-fee margin, expected sell-through and realized batch size.
Use several ordinary sessions rather than the best hour. A high-ceiling market with rare sales can produce a worse goal date than a simple liquid route.
Preserve working capital
After the goal, the profession still needs reagents, listings and room to test the next batch. If the purchase consumes the bank, strong unit margin cannot rescue a stopped cycle.
Enter the minimum amount that must remain after the goal. It may be small for gathering and higher for a production portfolio. This is a user boundary, not an official mechanic.
Test the plan against a real week
Enter only hours genuinely available before the deadline. The plan should not require daily auction checks when your routine is two longer weekend sessions.
After one week, replace GPH with realized flow. If inventory grew faster than cash, stop scaling production until current stock sells. The goal benefits from turnover, not a large appraised inventory.
Replace the baseline with your inputs and get an answer for your scenario.
Data note. Every numeric example is a transparent baseline scenario. It is not presented as official publisher data and can be recalculated in the linked tool.