The physical significance of the glass transition observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the metallic glasses was considered through the measurements of the heating-rate, , dependence of the glass transition temperature, T g , and the crystallization temperature, T x , in the Zr 70 Cu 30 and Zr 70 Ni 30 amorphous alloys and X-ray study of their structures in as-quenched and crystallized states. Zr 70 Cu 30 exhibits the glass transition before crystallization, but Zr 70 Ni 30 is immediately crystallized at heating rates of conventional time scale in the DSC measurement. The heating rate c at the intersection of the two linear curves of T g and T x against log provides us with a significant measure to determine the glass-forming ability or thermal stability of the metallic glasses. By heating at larger than c , the crystallization is suppressed and the glass transition is clearly observed even in Zr 70 Ni 30 . The thermal stability of the Zr 70 Cu 30 amorphous alloy is caused by retardation of crystallization due to the amorphous structure that is different from the Zr 2 Cu crystalline phase. In contrast, the thermal instability of Zr 70 Ni 30 is attributed to the structural similarity to the Zr 2 Ni crystalline phase. Thus, suppressing the crystallization is shown to be a key to enhance the thermal stability of the present amorphous alloys.