In order to investigate the hysteretic behaviors of opening cold-formed thick-walled steel members under the axial cyclic loading, three cold-formed steel columns were tested. On the basis of compared with the test results, a finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS was established. The influence of width-thickness ratio (h/t) rang from 25 to 90 for web and slenderness ratio about the weak axis y (λ_y) rang from 30 to 90 of such members were investigated by FEM. Analysis results indicated that the width-thickness ratio and the slenderness ratio about the weak axis y are the most important factors to affect the hysteretic behaviors. So, the cold-formed steels which with great width-thickness ratio (h/t) and great slenderness ratio (λ_y) should be avoided in designing, because they will lead to poor seismic performance.