Abstract: To investigate the shear performance of pulverized coal and its influencing factors, the yield locus of pulverized coal were obtained by ShearTrac II system. Shear characteristics of pulverized coal and typical powder glass beads were compared. The results show that shearing of pulverized coal is more difficult. Furthermore, the effects of shear velocity, shear displacement and preconsolidation stress on shear characteristics are determined, indicating that the recommended shear velocity (D6128 00), ranging from 1 mm/min to 3 mm/min, is available for pulverized coal. The increasing shear velocity during this range has little effect on the stress measurements but saves test time. To ensure achieving the peak value and the steady state region of shear stress, the shear displacement should be more than 8 mm. The cohesion and flow index increased gradually with the rising preconsolidation stresses, thus, the selection of which should be based on the intended application.