The present invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically adjusting the hold-off time of a DSO based on real-time cycle measurements of the system trigger signal: obtaining a cycle sequence by measuring the system trigger signal, the maximum cycle and minimum cycle, then judging the difference of the maximum cycle and minimum cycle: if the difference is greater than a threshold set by user, setting the hold-off time to the maximum cycle, the minimum cycle or the median cycle, then returning; otherwise terminating the adjustment of the hold-off time. At this point, the hold-off time is correctly set. Therefore, the present invention reduces the complexity and time consumption of the hold-off adjustment, and allows the test signal to be quickly and stably displayed on screen of DSO, meanwhile, which makes the trigger adjustment of DSO more convenient.