Matt Slocum warns against having too many server-side traces running:
Before the client took the last ditch effort of just restarting SQL Server, I checked traces. There were 9 user traces collecting a ton of trace events.
I manually killed them all and suddenly performance returned to normal. Phew! Crisis averted.
As a follow up from that issue, I created a script that stops and then deletes all user traces. We are discussing setting up a job to run this script periodically to keep traces at bay and I am educating the group on proper trace discipline (and Extended Events).
Even Extended Events aren’t free, so the same advice applies.