diff --git a/app/vtinsert/opentelemetry/opentelemetry.go b/app/vtinsert/opentelemetry/opentelemetry.go
index e011df515..31011d483 100644
--- a/app/vtinsert/opentelemetry/opentelemetry.go
+++ b/app/vtinsert/opentelemetry/opentelemetry.go
@@ -192,7 +192,6 @@ func pushFieldsFromScopeSpans(ss *otelpb.ScopeSpans, commonFields []logstorage.F
 func pushFieldsFromSpan(span *otelpb.Span, scopeCommonFields []logstorage.Field, lmp insertutil.LogMessageProcessor) []logstorage.Field {
 	fields := scopeCommonFields
 	fields = append(fields,
-		logstorage.Field{Name: otelpb.TraceIDField, Value: span.TraceID},
 		logstorage.Field{Name: otelpb.SpanIDField, Value: span.SpanID},
 		logstorage.Field{Name: otelpb.TraceStateField, Value: span.TraceState},
 		logstorage.Field{Name: otelpb.ParentSpanIDField, Value: span.ParentSpanID},
@@ -240,17 +239,22 @@ func pushFieldsFromSpan(span *otelpb.Span, scopeCommonFields []logstorage.Field,
 		// append link attributes
 		fields = appendKeyValuesWithPrefixSuffix(fields, link.Attributes, "", linkFieldPrefix+otelpb.LinkAttrPrefix, linkFieldSuffix)
 	}
-	fields = append(fields, logstorage.Field{
-		Name:  "_msg",
-		Value: msgFieldValue,
-	})
+	fields = append(fields,
+		logstorage.Field{Name: "_msg", Value: msgFieldValue},
+		// MUST: always place TraceIDField at the last. The Trace ID is required for data distribution.
+		// Placing it at the last position helps netinsert to find it easily, without adding extra field to
+		// *logstorage.InsertRow structure, which is required due to the sync between logstorage and VictoriaTraces.
+		// todo: @jiekun the trace ID field MUST be the last field. add extra ways to secure it.
+		logstorage.Field{Name: otelpb.TraceIDField, Value: span.TraceID},
+	)
 	lmp.AddRow(int64(span.EndTimeUnixNano), fields, nil)
 
 	// create an entity in trace-id-idx stream, if this trace_id hasn't been seen before.
 	if !traceIDCache.Has([]byte(span.TraceID)) {
 		lmp.AddRow(int64(span.StartTimeUnixNano), []logstorage.Field{
-			{Name: otelpb.TraceIDIndexFieldName, Value: span.TraceID},
 			{Name: "_msg", Value: msgFieldValue},
+			// todo: @jiekun the trace ID field MUST be the last field. add extra ways to secure it.
+			{Name: otelpb.TraceIDIndexFieldName, Value: span.TraceID},
 		}, []logstorage.Field{{Name: otelpb.TraceIDIndexStreamName, Value: strconv.FormatUint(xxhash.Sum64String(span.TraceID)%otelpb.TraceIDIndexPartitionCount, 10)}})
 		traceIDCache.Set([]byte(span.TraceID), nil)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert.go b/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert.go
index 06c3b4146..188603ed3 100644
--- a/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert.go
+++ b/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert.go
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promauth"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/timerpool"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
+	"github.com/cespare/xxhash/v2"
 	"github.com/valyala/fastrand"
+
+	otelpb "github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaTraces/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb"
 )
 
 // the maximum size of a single data block sent to storage node.
@@ -341,7 +344,17 @@ func (s *Storage) MustStop() {
 
 // AddRow adds the given log row into s.
 func (s *Storage) AddRow(streamHash uint64, r *logstorage.InsertRow) {
-	idx := s.srt.getNodeIdx(streamHash)
+	// trace ID should always be put in the last field.
+	// but for better compatibility, we should search for the trace_id in reverse order,
+	// instead of using the last one in the `r.Fields` slice directly.
+	var traceID string
+	for i := len(r.Fields) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		if r.Fields[i].Name == otelpb.TraceIDField {
+			traceID = r.Fields[i].Value
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	idx := s.srt.getNodeIdx(streamHash, traceID)
 	sn := s.sns[idx]
 	sn.addRow(r)
 }
@@ -378,12 +391,26 @@ func newStreamRowsTracker(nodesCount int) *streamRowsTracker {
 	}
 }
 
-func (srt *streamRowsTracker) getNodeIdx(streamHash uint64) uint64 {
+// getNodeIdx return the node index for a specific traceID
+func (srt *streamRowsTracker) getNodeIdx(streamHash uint64, traceID string) uint64 {
 	if srt.nodesCount == 1 {
 		// Fast path for a single node.
 		return 0
 	}
 
+	// common path: distribute data by trace ID.
+	if traceID != "" {
+		// When the node count is changed after a restart, the spans of a trace might be
+		// distributed across different nodes. Therefore, there's no guarantee that a trace query
+		// can find all the spans of a trace in ONE vtstorage instance.
+		//
+		// This could potentially affect the service graph, which aggregates data within each vtstorage instance.
+		// However, since only a small number of traces are affected, the overall trend will remain consistent.
+		return xxhash.Sum64String(traceID) % uint64(srt.nodesCount)
+	}
+
+	// for backward compatible, keep the original random distribution logic.
+	// only data without trace ID will go to the following path.
 	srt.mu.Lock()
 	defer srt.mu.Unlock()
 
diff --git a/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert_test.go b/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert_test.go
index 957156137..3d4a9fea8 100644
--- a/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert_test.go
+++ b/app/vtstorage/netinsert/netinsert_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package netinsert
 
 import (
+	cryptorand "crypto/rand"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"math/rand"
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ func TestStreamRowsTracker(t *testing.T) {
 		for i := 0; i < rowsCount; i++ {
 			streamIdx := rng.Intn(streamsCount)
 			h := streamHashes[streamIdx]
-			nodeIdx := srt.getNodeIdx(h)
+			nodeIdx := srt.getNodeIdx(h, cryptorand.Text())
 			rowsPerNode[nodeIdx]++
 		}