diff --git a/plugin/storage/cassandra/spanstore/reader.go b/plugin/storage/cassandra/spanstore/reader.go
index 33bdbe5f6b0..85dff51bbef 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/cassandra/spanstore/reader.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/cassandra/spanstore/reader.go
@@ -237,7 +237,10 @@ func (s *SpanReader) FindTraces(ctx context.Context, traceQuery *spanstore.Trace
 	}
 	if traceQuery.NumTraces == 0 {
 		traceQuery.NumTraces = defaultNumTraces
+	} else if traceQuery.NumTraces > 10000 {
+		traceQuery.NumTraces = 10000
 	}
+
 	uniqueTraceIDs, err := s.findTraceIDs(ctx, traceQuery)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go b/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
index ff75314e754..4e78789d3a7 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ const (
 
 	defaultDocCount  = 10000 // the default elasticsearch allowed limit
 	defaultNumTraces = 100
+	defaultNumSpans  = 1000
 )
 
 var (
@@ -265,7 +266,7 @@ func (s *SpanReader) multiRead(ctx context.Context, traceIDs []string, startTime
 			if val, ok := searchAfterTime[traceID]; ok {
 				nextTime = val
 			}
-			searchRequests[i] = elastic.NewSearchRequest().IgnoreUnavailable(true).Type(spanType).Source(elastic.NewSearchSource().Query(query).Size(defaultDocCount).Sort("startTime", true).SearchAfter(nextTime))
+			searchRequests[i] = elastic.NewSearchRequest().IgnoreUnavailable(true).Type(spanType).Source(elastic.NewSearchSource().Query(query).Size(defaultDocCount).TerminateAfter(defaultNumSpans).Sort("startTime", true).SearchAfter(nextTime))
 		}
 		// set traceIDs to empty
 		traceIDs = nil