diff --git a/public/components/trace_analytics/home.tsx b/public/components/trace_analytics/home.tsx
index 5bb98bbea2..da691d9cf5 100644
--- a/public/components/trace_analytics/home.tsx
+++ b/public/components/trace_analytics/home.tsx
@@ -120,7 +120,13 @@ export const Home = (props: HomeProps) => {
 
   const [dataSourceMDSId, setDataSourceMDSId] = useState([{ id: '', label: '' }]);
   const [currentSelectedService, setCurrentSelectedService] = useState('');
-  const { defaultRoute = '/services' } = props;
+  let defaultRoute = props.defaultRoute ?? '/services';
+  const currentHash = window.location.hash.split('#')[1] || '';
+
+  if (currentHash === '/traces' || currentHash === '/services') {
+    defaultRoute = currentHash;
+  }
+
   const { chrome } = props;
   const isNavGroupEnabled = chrome.navGroup.getNavGroupEnabled();
 
diff --git a/public/components/trace_analytics/trace_side_nav.tsx b/public/components/trace_analytics/trace_side_nav.tsx
index de1a346d43..1691c5b51c 100644
--- a/public/components/trace_analytics/trace_side_nav.tsx
+++ b/public/components/trace_analytics/trace_side_nav.tsx
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export function TraceSideBar(props: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
     {
       name: 'Trace analytics',
       id: 1,
-      href: '#/',
+      href: '#/services',
       items: [
         {
           name: 'Services',