trace_filter

trace_filter is the search method of Ethereum's trace namespace. Instead of fetching the traces for one transaction or one block, you hand it a filter and it sweeps a range of blocks for every trace that matches. You can narrow by sender (fromAddress), recipient (toAddress), and a fromBlock/toBlock window, then page through the results with after and count. It's how you find, say, every internal ETH transfer that ever hit a particular contract on Ethereum mainnet (chain ID 1) without replaying each block yourself. Queries go to https://ethereum.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY, and each match comes back in the same flat shape as trace_transaction, carrying its own transactionHash and blockNumber.

Use cases

Set toAddress to a contract and collect every internal ETH transfer it received across a block range, including value moves that left no log behind.
Watch known MEV bots by listing their addresses in fromAddress, then study the calls they fired to map out arbitrage and liquidation strategies.
Index a DeFi protocol end to end. Filter on a MakerDAO or Aave contract address and stream all calls into your own database for analytics.
Run forensics around an exploit by pulling every interaction with the victim contract in the blocks before and after the incident, reconstructing how funds drained.

Parameters

#	Name	Type	Required	Description
1	`filter`	object	Yes	Filter object with the following optional fields.

Response

Type	Description
array	Flat array of matching trace objects, each with the same shape as trace_transaction results: `{action, result, subtraces, traceAddress, transactionHash, transactionPosition, blockHash, blockNumber, type}`.

Example request

1curl https://ethereum.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY \
2  -X POST \
3  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
4  -d '{
5    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
6    "method": "trace_filter",
7    "params": [{}],
8    "id": 1
9  }'

Try it live in the Ethereum playground.

Errors & troubleshooting

Code	Message	Cause
`-32601`	`Method not found`	trace namespace not enabled or client does not support trace_filter.
`-32602`	`Invalid params`	Filter object contains invalid fields, or block range is too wide for the node's configured limit.
`-32000`	`query returned more than X results`	Result set exceeded the node's per-request limit; narrow the block range or use pagination.

Common pitfalls

A wide fromBlock/toBlock window is brutally slow and will often be rejected outright. Keep the range tight and walk it with after/count pagination rather than asking for a million blocks in one shot.
The method only exists on a trace-enabled archive node. Most public Ethereum endpoints never expose the trace namespace at all.
Traces aren't indexed the way logs are. eth_getLogs lets you filter by event topic; trace_filter only filters by address and block number, so you cannot query by event signature here.

Supported networks

Mainnet — Chain ID: 1
Sepolia — Chain ID: 11155111