diff --git a/Include/ceval.h b/Include/ceval.h
index 89c6062..23295d5 100644
--- a/Include/ceval.h
+++ b/Include/ceval.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyEval_CallMethod(PyObject *obj,
 #ifndef Py_LIMITED_API
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetProfile(Py_tracefunc, PyObject *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc, PyObject *);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetTraceInstructions(int);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyEval_SetCoroutineWrapper(PyObject *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyEval_GetCoroutineWrapper(void);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyEval_SetAsyncGenFirstiter(PyObject *);
diff --git a/Include/pystate.h b/Include/pystate.h
index afc3c0c..64f3f93 100644
--- a/Include/pystate.h
+++ b/Include/pystate.h
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ typedef int (*Py_tracefunc)(PyObject *, struct _frame *, int, PyObject *);
 #define PyTrace_C_CALL 4
 #define PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION 5
 #define PyTrace_C_RETURN 6
+#define PyTrace_INSTRUCTION 7
 #endif
 
 #ifdef Py_LIMITED_API
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ typedef struct _ts {
        the trace/profile. */
     int tracing;
     int use_tracing;
+    int inst_tracing;
 
     Py_tracefunc c_profilefunc;
     Py_tracefunc c_tracefunc;
diff --git a/Python/ceval.c b/Python/ceval.c
index d5172b9..67250ee 100644
--- a/Python/ceval.c
+++ b/Python/ceval.c
@@ -4484,6 +4484,7 @@ _PyEval_CallTracing(PyObject *func, PyObject *args)
     PyThreadState *tstate = PyThreadState_GET();
     int save_tracing = tstate->tracing;
     int save_use_tracing = tstate->use_tracing;
+    int save_inst_tracing = tstate->inst_tracing;
     PyObject *result;
 
     tstate->tracing = 0;
@@ -4492,6 +4493,7 @@ _PyEval_CallTracing(PyObject *func, PyObject *args)
     result = PyObject_Call(func, args, NULL);
     tstate->tracing = save_tracing;
     tstate->use_tracing = save_use_tracing;
+    tstate->inst_tracing = save_inst_tracing;
     return result;
 }
 
@@ -4521,6 +4523,9 @@ maybe_call_line_trace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *obj,
         frame->f_lineno = line;
         result = call_trace(func, obj, tstate, frame, PyTrace_LINE, Py_None);
     }
+    else if (tstate->inst_tracing) {
+        result = call_trace(func, obj, tstate, frame, PyTrace_INSTRUCTION, Py_None);
+    }
     *instr_prev = frame->f_lasti;
     return result;
 }
@@ -4559,6 +4564,18 @@ PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg)
     /* Flag that tracing or profiling is turned on */
     tstate->use_tracing = ((func != NULL)
                            || (tstate->c_profilefunc != NULL));
+    /* instruction tracing must be explicitly enabled after this call. */
+    tstate->inst_tracing = 0;
+}
+
+void
+PyEval_SetTraceInstructions(int inst_tracing)
+{
+    /* for now this is provided as a separate function from PyEval_SetTrace,
+       to avoid breaking anything. Since PyEval_SetTrace is not part of the
+       limited API it may be appropriate to change PyEval_SetTrace though. */
+    PyThreadState *tstate = PyThreadState_GET();
+    tstate->inst_tracing = inst_tracing;
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/Python/pystate.c b/Python/pystate.c
index 65c244e..539225b 100644
--- a/Python/pystate.c
+++ b/Python/pystate.c
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ new_threadstate(PyInterpreterState *interp, int init)
         tstate->recursion_critical = 0;
         tstate->tracing = 0;
         tstate->use_tracing = 0;
+        tstate->inst_tracing = 0;
         tstate->gilstate_counter = 0;
         tstate->async_exc = NULL;
 #ifdef WITH_THREAD
diff --git a/Python/sysmodule.c b/Python/sysmodule.c
index 52034ff..a5bd907 100644
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c
@@ -358,18 +358,20 @@ same value.");
  * Cached interned string objects used for calling the profile and
  * trace functions.  Initialized by trace_init().
  */
-static PyObject *whatstrings[7] = {NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL};
+static PyObject *whatstrings[8] = {
+    NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,NULL};
 
 static int
 trace_init(void)
 {
-    static const char * const whatnames[7] = {
+    static const char * const whatnames[8] = {
         "call", "exception", "line", "return",
-        "c_call", "c_exception", "c_return"
+        "c_call", "c_exception", "c_return",
+        "instruction"
     };
     PyObject *name;
     int i;
-    for (i = 0; i < 7; ++i) {
+    for (i = 0; i < 8; ++i) {
         if (whatstrings[i] == NULL) {
             name = PyUnicode_InternFromString(whatnames[i]);
             if (name == NULL)
@@ -457,10 +459,20 @@ sys_settrace(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
     if (trace_init() == -1)
         return NULL;
-    if (args == Py_None)
+    PyObject *trace_callback = NULL;
+    int trace_instructions = 0;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|p:settrace",
+        &trace_callback, &trace_instructions)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (trace_callback == Py_None) {
         PyEval_SetTrace(NULL, NULL);
-    else
-        PyEval_SetTrace(trace_trampoline, args);
+        PyEval_SetTraceInstructions(0);
+    }
+    else {
+        PyEval_SetTrace(trace_trampoline, trace_callback);
+        PyEval_SetTraceInstructions(trace_instructions);
+    }
     Py_INCREF(Py_None);
     return Py_None;
 }
@@ -1421,7 +1433,7 @@ static PyMethodDef sys_methods[] = {
     {"getprofile",      sys_getprofile, METH_NOARGS, getprofile_doc},
     {"setrecursionlimit", sys_setrecursionlimit, METH_VARARGS,
      setrecursionlimit_doc},
-    {"settrace",        sys_settrace, METH_O, settrace_doc},
+    {"settrace",        sys_settrace, METH_VARARGS, settrace_doc},
     {"gettrace",        sys_gettrace, METH_NOARGS, gettrace_doc},
     {"call_tracing", sys_call_tracing, METH_VARARGS, call_tracing_doc},
     {"_debugmallocstats", sys_debugmallocstats, METH_NOARGS,