To realize the ring truss of the long-span cable dome assembled by bolting, this paper proposed an innovative fully bolted joint which is composed of inner cruciform members superposed by angle steels and outer sleeves. It is the internal and external connections that achieve the mechanical performance of this fabricated joint the same as that of the welded joint. The joint has several advantages such as efficient construction, convenient assembly and disassembly and resource conservation. To study the mechanical property of the novel joint, three specimens were designed for low cycle reciprocating loading tests. Particularly, the failure mode, hysteresis performance, skeleton curve, stiffness degradation, ductility, bolt tension, strain distribution and energy dissipation capacity of the specimens were analyzed. According to the results, the hysteresis curves of the specimens were plump, and this joint had excellent stiffness and bending resistance, which was similar to the welded joint. In addition, the internal cruciform members cooperated with the bolts on the flange and played the role of the second line of defense, to ensure the bearing resistance and stiffness of the joint.