Abstract The present study was aimed at examining the effect of modes of rolling and subsequent annealing on yield locus anisotropy and its dependence on microstructure and texture. The materials, pure Cu, Cu(Cr) alloy and Cu(P) alloy, have been subjected to equal amount of cold rolling reductions by unidirectional, two-step cross rolling and multistep cross rolling and consequent changes in yield loci has been examined. The yield loci have been determined by the Knoop hardness method. The results show that the alloys exhibit marked anisotropy after direct as well as cross rolling. Annealing of the rolled materials brings down the extent of anisotropy.