diff --git a/src/track/heaptrack.sh.cmake b/src/track/heaptrack.sh.cmake
index 7ca00261..3027eaa6 100755
--- a/src/track/heaptrack.sh.cmake
+++ b/src/track/heaptrack.sh.cmake
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ usage() {
     echo
     echo "Optional arguments to heaptrack:"
     echo "  -r, --raw      Only record raw data, do not interpret it."
+    echo " --unwind-depth DEPTH"
+    echo "                 Limit backtraces to DEPTH frames per allocation (1..64, default: 64)."
+    echo "                 Smaller depths reduce the tracking overhead."
+    echo "                 Only takes effect for newly started processes, not with --pid."
     echo "  -d, --debug    Run the debuggee in GDB and heaptrack."
     echo " --use-inject    Use the same heaptrack_inject symbol interception mechanism instead of relying on"
     echo "                 the dynamic linker and LD_PRELOAD. This is an experimental flag for now."
@@ -72,6 +76,7 @@ pid=
 client=
 use_inject_lib=
 write_raw_data=
+unwind_depth=
 record_only=
 asan=
 asan_ld_preload=
@@ -169,6 +174,20 @@ while true; do
             write_raw_data=1
             shift 1
             ;;
+        "--unwind-depth")
+            case "$2" in
+                ''|*[!0-9]*)
+                    echo "Invalid --unwind-depth argument: \"$2\" (expected 1..64)"
+                    exit 1
+                    ;;
+            esac
+            if [ "$2" -lt 1 ] || [ "$2" -gt 64 ]; then
+                echo "Invalid --unwind-depth argument: \"$2\" (expected 1..64)"
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            unwind_depth=$2
+            shift 2
+            ;;
         "--asan")
             asan=1
             use_inject_lib=1
@@ -428,6 +447,10 @@ if [ -z ${quiet} ]; then
   echo "heaptrack output will be written to \"$output\""
 fi
 
+if [ ! -z "$unwind_depth" ]; then
+    export HEAPTRACK_UNWIND_DEPTH="$unwind_depth"
+fi
+
 if [ -z "$debug" ] && [ -z "$pid" ]; then
   if [ -z ${quiet} ]; then
     echo "starting application, this might take some time..."
diff --git a/src/track/libheaptrack.cpp b/src/track/libheaptrack.cpp
index f7576a2e..ed5bfb0b 100644
--- a/src/track/libheaptrack.cpp
+++ b/src/track/libheaptrack.cpp
@@ -304,6 +304,16 @@ class HeapTrack
 
             Trace::setup();
 
+            if (const char* depthStr = getenv("HEAPTRACK_UNWIND_DEPTH")) {
+                const int depth = atoi(depthStr);
+                if (depth >= 1 && depth <= Trace::MAX_SIZE) {
+                    Trace::setMaxDepth(depth);
+                } else {
+                    fprintf(stderr, "heaptrack: ignoring invalid HEAPTRACK_UNWIND_DEPTH=%s (expected 1..%d)\n",
+                            depthStr, Trace::MAX_SIZE);
+                }
+            }
+
             // do not trace forked child processes
             // TODO: make this configurable
             pthread_atfork(&prepare_fork, &parent_fork, &child_fork);
@@ -661,7 +671,8 @@ class HeapTrack
     };
 
     /**
-     * To prevent deadlocks on shutdown, we try to lock from the timer thread
+     * To prevent deadlocks on shutdown, we periodically give up waiting for
+     * the lock to run the stopLockCheck.
      *
      * TODO: c++17 return std::optional<HeapTrack>
      */
@@ -669,11 +680,14 @@ class HeapTrack
     static LockStatus tryLock(StopLockCheck stopLockCheck)
     {
         debugLog<VeryVerboseOutput>("%s", "trying to acquire lock");
-        while (!s_lock.try_lock()) {
+        // wait on the lock via a futex instead of polling with tiny sleeps:
+        // the kernel's default timer slack inflates a 1us sleep to ~50us,
+        // which heavily delays contended allocations. The timeout only
+        // bounds how long a pending shutdown can go unnoticed.
+        while (!s_lock.try_lock_for(chrono::milliseconds(1))) {
             if (stopLockCheck()) {
                 return false;
             }
-            this_thread::sleep_for(chrono::microseconds(1));
         }
         debugLog<VeryVerboseOutput>("%s", "lock acquired");
         return true;
@@ -791,14 +805,14 @@ class HeapTrack
 #endif
     };
 
-    static std::mutex s_lock;
+    static std::timed_mutex s_lock;
     static LockedData* s_data;
 
 private:
     static std::atomic<bool> s_paused;
 };
 
-std::mutex HeapTrack::s_lock;
+std::timed_mutex HeapTrack::s_lock;
 HeapTrack::LockedData* HeapTrack::s_data {nullptr};
 std::atomic<bool> HeapTrack::s_paused {false};
 }
diff --git a/src/track/trace.h b/src/track/trace.h
index f610bf26..551ddce8 100644
--- a/src/track/trace.h
+++ b/src/track/trace.h
@@ -71,9 +71,18 @@ struct Trace
 
     static void print();
 
+    /// limit the number of frames captured per backtrace, must be in [1, MAX_SIZE]
+    static void setMaxDepth(int depth)
+    {
+        assert(depth >= 1 && depth <= MAX_SIZE);
+        s_maxDepth = depth;
+    }
+
 private:
     static int unwind(void** data);
 
+    inline static int s_maxDepth = MAX_SIZE;
+
 private:
     int m_size = 0;
     int m_skip = 0;
diff --git a/src/track/trace_libunwind.cpp b/src/track/trace_libunwind.cpp
index b52fda23..f1cd477d 100644
--- a/src/track/trace_libunwind.cpp
+++ b/src/track/trace_libunwind.cpp
@@ -64,5 +64,5 @@ void Trace::setup()
 
 int Trace::unwind(void** data)
 {
-    return unw_backtrace(data, MAX_SIZE);
+    return unw_backtrace(data, s_maxDepth);
 }
diff --git a/src/track/trace_unwind_tables.cpp b/src/track/trace_unwind_tables.cpp
index d35cb2be..1b7b399f 100644
--- a/src/track/trace_unwind_tables.cpp
+++ b/src/track/trace_unwind_tables.cpp
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ int Trace::unwind(void** data)
 {
     backtrace trace;
     trace.data = data;
-    trace.max_size = MAX_SIZE;
+    trace.max_size = s_maxDepth;
 
     _Unwind_Backtrace(unwind_backtrace_callback, &trace);
     return trace.ctr;