diff -r aa7ac93d23b2 Include/ceval.h
--- a/Include/ceval.h	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Include/ceval.h	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyEval_CallMethod
 
 #ifndef Py_LIMITED_API
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetProfile(Py_tracefunc, PyObject *);
-PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc, PyObject *);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyEval_SetTraceEx(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg, int trace_instructions);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyEval_SetCoroutineWrapper(PyObject *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyEval_GetCoroutineWrapper(void);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyEval_SetAsyncGenFirstiter(PyObject *);
diff -r aa7ac93d23b2 Include/pystate.h
--- a/Include/pystate.h	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Include/pystate.h	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ typedef int (*Py_tracefunc)(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 -r aa7ac93d23b2 Lib/test/test_sys_settrace.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_sys_settrace.py	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sys_settrace.py	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -397,6 +397,14 @@ class TraceTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             [(0, 'call'),
              (1, 'line')])
 
+    def test_settrace_args(self):
+        def func():
+            pass
+        # first parameter is mandatory
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, sys.settrace)
+        # trace_instructions is a keyword-only parameter
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, sys.settrace, func, True)
+
 
 class RaisingTraceFuncTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
diff -r aa7ac93d23b2 Python/ceval.c
--- a/Python/ceval.c	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Python/ceval.c	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -4539,6 +4539,7 @@ PyObject *
     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;
@@ -4547,6 +4548,7 @@ PyObject *
     result = PyObject_Call(func, args, NULL);
     tstate->tracing = save_tracing;
     tstate->use_tracing = save_use_tracing;
+    tstate->inst_tracing = save_inst_tracing;
     return result;
 }
 
@@ -4576,6 +4578,9 @@ maybe_call_line_trace(Py_tracefunc func,
         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;
 }
@@ -4598,7 +4603,7 @@ PyEval_SetProfile(Py_tracefunc func, PyO
 }
 
 void
-PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg)
+_PyEval_SetTraceEx(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg, int trace_instructions)
 {
     PyThreadState *tstate = PyThreadState_GET();
     PyObject *temp = tstate->c_traceobj;
@@ -4614,6 +4619,14 @@ PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObj
     /* 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 = trace_instructions;
+}
+
+void
+PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *arg)
+{
+    _PyEval_SetTraceEx(func, arg, 0);
 }
 
 void
diff -r aa7ac93d23b2 Python/pystate.c
--- a/Python/pystate.c	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Python/pystate.c	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ new_threadstate(PyInterpreterState *inte
         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 -r aa7ac93d23b2 Python/sysmodule.c
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c	Wed Feb 01 23:12:20 2017 +0200
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c	Wed Feb 01 22:42:05 2017 +0100
@@ -355,18 +355,20 @@ 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)
@@ -436,7 +438,7 @@ trace_trampoline(PyObject *self, PyFrame
         return 0;
     result = call_trampoline(callback, frame, what, arg);
     if (result == NULL) {
-        PyEval_SetTrace(NULL, NULL);
+        _PyEval_SetTraceEx(NULL, NULL, 0);
         Py_CLEAR(frame->f_trace);
         return -1;
     }
@@ -450,15 +452,28 @@ trace_trampoline(PyObject *self, PyFrame
 }
 
 static PyObject *
-sys_settrace(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+sys_settrace(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs)
 {
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"", "trace_instructions", NULL};
+    PyObject *trace_callback;
+    int trace_instructions = 0;
+
     if (trace_init() == -1)
         return NULL;
-    if (args == Py_None)
-        PyEval_SetTrace(NULL, NULL);
-    else
-        PyEval_SetTrace(trace_trampoline, args);
-    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwargs, "O|$p:settrace", kwlist,
+        &trace_callback, &trace_instructions)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (trace_callback == Py_None) {
+        _PyEval_SetTraceEx(NULL, NULL, 0);
+    }
+    else {
+        _PyEval_SetTraceEx(trace_trampoline, trace_callback,
+                           trace_instructions);
+    }
+    Py_INCREF(Py_None);
+    return Py_None;
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(settrace_doc,
@@ -1438,7 +1453,7 @@ 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",        (PyCFunction)sys_settrace, METH_VARARGS|METH_KEYWORDS, settrace_doc},
     {"gettrace",        sys_gettrace, METH_NOARGS, gettrace_doc},
     {"call_tracing", sys_call_tracing, METH_VARARGS, call_tracing_doc},
     {"_debugmallocstats", sys_debugmallocstats, METH_NOARGS,