A method and system for optimizing the execution of a software loop is provided. The method involves the determination of an edge in a critical recurrence cycle in the software loop. The edge is a dependency link between two instructions and contains a dependee and a dependent. The dependee is an instruction that produces a result, and the dependent is an instruction that uses the result. The method further involves performing predicate promotion of at least one of the dependee and the dependent if one or more pre-determined conditions are met.