Bode principle is applied to carry out traffic control for rate based ATM network, which guarantees the higher buffer utilization, buffer overflow-free, and well utilization of bandwidth. The principle confirms the relationship between the threshold of buffer queue and the network bandwidth, as well as the relationship between the threshold of buffer and source input rate. Theoretic warrant of the buffer threshold is proposed. The reference range of source input rate is provided in theory, which makes the source end respond to the change of network state rapidly and dynamically, and then the effect of time delay to the traffic control is avoided. Simulation results show that the better steady and dynamic performances of networks are obtained by Bode principle.