Abstract Using the geoelectric field measured by lead electrode and solid nonpolarized electrode, based on analysis of their variation characteristics, the relationship between them and regional pressure variation, and the relationship between measuring direction and nearby fault strike, we find that:1) The daily variation of geoelectric field measured by two kinds of electrodes near active fault are relatively small when they are vertical to fault strike, and relatively large when they are parallel to fault strike. 2) The geoelectric field measured by the lead electrode near the active fault has an aperiodic variation of atmospheric pressure, and the correlation between geoelectric field and atmospheric pressure in each direction is related to the angle between the measuring direction and the strike of the nearby fault. The correlation is high when the measuring direction is nearly vertical to the strike of the nearby fault, and decreases with the decline of the angles. The geoelectric field measured by solid nonpolarized electrode does not have these characteristics.