diff --git a/tests/trace/Makefile b/tests/trace/Makefile
index 1cbf48d4d0..ae0e377a82 100644
--- a/tests/trace/Makefile
+++ b/tests/trace/Makefile
@@ -2,4 +2,7 @@ include ../Makefile.tests_common
 
 USEMODULE += trace
 
+# reduce tracebuffer (default is 512), so this test compiles for more boards
+CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_TRACE_BUFSIZE=64
+
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.include