Three-dimensional finite element models were developed to analyze 304 stainless steel rod and wire hot continuous rolling process with the help of MSC.Marc software. The entire 30-pass deformation process and the actual parameters of production line were taken into account. Static and dynamic procedures were used to study the continuous rolling process with the aid of the thermo-mechanical coupled FEM of elastic-plasticity. The properties of billets, such as deformation, temperature field and rolling force, were mainly discussed. The simulation results of temperature agree well with the measured values. Comparisons of the analysis results obtained using static implicit method and dynamic implicit method were presented. It is shown that static implicit procedure is more accurate than dynamic implicit procedure and is able to simulate the rolling process with a lower speed, such as a roughing mill. Whereas, dynamic analysis shows a higher efficiency than static analysis and is fit for simulating the rolling process with a higher speed, such as a finishing mill.