diff --git a/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage.go b/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage.go
index 816f22a2d1b..84caed3302b 100644
--- a/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage.go
+++ b/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage.go
@@ -263,7 +263,23 @@ func (rw *ReadWriter) ReadTraceEvents(traceID string, out *modelpb.Batch) error
 	rw.readKeyBuf = append(append(rw.readKeyBuf[:0], traceID...), ':')
 	opts.Prefix = rw.readKeyBuf
 
+	// 1st pass: check whether there exist keys matching the prefix.
+	// Do not prefetch values so that the check is done in-memory.
+	// This is to optimize for cases when it is a miss.
+	opts.PrefetchValues = false
 	iter := rw.txn.NewIterator(opts)
+	iter.Rewind()
+	if !iter.Valid() {
+		iter.Close()
+		return nil
+	}
+	iter.Close()
+
+	// 2nd pass: this is only done when there exist keys matching the prefix.
+	// Fetch the events with PrefetchValues for performance.
+	// This is to optimize for cases when it is a hit.
+	opts.PrefetchValues = true
+	iter = rw.txn.NewIterator(opts)
 	defer iter.Close()
 	for iter.Rewind(); iter.Valid(); iter.Next() {
 		item := iter.Item()
diff --git a/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage_bench_test.go b/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage_bench_test.go
index 33a42208800..3c5bafcf17a 100644
--- a/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage_bench_test.go
+++ b/x-pack/apm-server/sampling/eventstorage/storage_bench_test.go
@@ -161,6 +161,76 @@ func BenchmarkReadEvents(b *testing.B) {
 	}
 }
 
+func BenchmarkReadEventsHit(b *testing.B) {
+	// This test may take longer to run because setup time >> run time
+	// It may be possible that the next estimated b.N is a very large number due to short run time
+	// And causes next iteration setup to take a very long time.
+	const txnCountInTrace = 5
+
+	test := func(b *testing.B, codec eventstorage.Codec, bigTX bool) {
+		for _, hit := range []bool{false, true} {
+			b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("hit=%v", hit), func(b *testing.B) {
+				db := newBadgerDB(b, badgerOptions)
+				store := eventstorage.New(db, codec)
+				readWriter := store.NewReadWriter()
+				defer readWriter.Close()
+				wOpts := eventstorage.WriterOpts{
+					TTL:                 time.Hour,
+					StorageLimitInBytes: 0,
+				}
+
+				traceIDs := make([]string, b.N)
+
+				for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+					traceID := uuid.Must(uuid.NewV4()).String()
+					traceIDs[i] = traceID
+					for j := 0; j < txnCountInTrace; j++ {
+						transactionID := uuid.Must(uuid.NewV4()).String()
+						var transaction *modelpb.APMEvent
+						if bigTX {
+							transaction = makeTransaction(transactionID, traceID)
+						} else {
+							transaction = &modelpb.APMEvent{
+								Transaction: &modelpb.Transaction{
+									Id: transactionID,
+								},
+							}
+						}
+						if err := readWriter.WriteTraceEvent(traceID, transactionID, transaction, wOpts); err != nil {
+							b.Fatal(err)
+						}
+					}
+				}
+				if err := readWriter.Flush(); err != nil {
+					b.Fatal(err)
+				}
+
+				b.ResetTimer()
+				var batch modelpb.Batch
+				for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+					batch = batch[:0]
+
+					traceID := traceIDs[i]
+					if !hit {
+						// replace the last char to generate a random non-existent traceID
+						traceID = traceID[:len(traceID)-1] + "-"
+					}
+
+					if err := readWriter.ReadTraceEvents(traceID, &batch); err != nil {
+						b.Fatal(err)
+					}
+				}
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, bigTX := range []bool{true, false} {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("bigTX=%v", bigTX), func(b *testing.B) {
+			test(b, eventstorage.ProtobufCodec{}, bigTX)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func BenchmarkIsTraceSampled(b *testing.B) {
 	sampledTraceUUID := uuid.Must(uuid.NewV4())
 	unsampledTraceUUID := uuid.Must(uuid.NewV4())