Abstract: Due to the characteristic of high tension during cold rolling and the transverse flow in cold rolling different from hot rolling, the Shohet criterion, which is universally used in hot rolling, is not applicable to cold rolling. The formation mechanism of cold rolled strip shapes under high tension was analyzed and a method to calculate the allowable variation of strips' transverse profile was proposed for cold rolling based on the buckling criterion. The allowable variation of transverse profiles of product strips and the required transverse profile range of incoming strips can be calculated by using the method. This method has been successfully applied in a domestic tandem cold mill and the transverse profile range of incoming strips suggested is more practicable and complete than before.