Abstract: Finite element software ABAQUS was used to simulate the hemispherical punch stretching tests of hot rolled pickling sheet. The location of global necking in the forming process of pickling sheet was analyzed. The first-order and second-order derivative of the principal strain were fitted by the Savitzky-Golay smoothing principle to obtain the curve of second-order principal strain with time. The forming strain limit of hot rolled pickling sheet was predicted based on the maximum second-order principal strain criterion, and compared with the experimental results. The results show that the forming limit based on finite element simulation and data fitting was slightly lower than the experimental results. The maximum error of the principal strains was 2.2%. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results, which could be used to predict the forming limit of hot rolled pickling sheet.