diff --git a/core/exchange.go b/core/exchange.go
index 3297db0bb5..697880e22d 100644
--- a/core/exchange.go
+++ b/core/exchange.go
@@ -6,17 +6,23 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/v6/pkg/da"
 	libhead "github.com/celestiaorg/go-header"
 
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/header"
+	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/libs/utils"
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/store"
 )
 
 const concurrencyLimit = 16
 
+var tracer = otel.Tracer("core")
+
 type Exchange struct {
 	fetcher   *BlockFetcher
 	store     *store.Store
@@ -70,16 +76,12 @@ func (ce *Exchange) GetRangeByHeight(
 	from *header.ExtendedHeader,
 	to uint64,
 ) ([]*header.ExtendedHeader, error) {
-	start := time.Now()
-
 	amount := to - (from.Height() + 1)
 	headers, err := ce.getRangeByHeight(ctx, from.Height()+1, amount)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	ce.metrics.requestDurationPerHeader(ctx, time.Since(start), amount)
-
 	for _, h := range headers {
 		err := libhead.Verify[*header.ExtendedHeader](from, h)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -165,26 +167,41 @@ func (ce *Exchange) Head(
 }
 
 func (ce *Exchange) getExtendedHeaderByHeight(ctx context.Context, height int64) (*header.ExtendedHeader, error) {
+	var err error
+
+	ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "exchange: getExtendedHeaderByHeight")
+	defer func() {
+		utils.SetStatusAndEnd(span, err)
+	}()
+	span.SetAttributes(attribute.Int64("height", height))
+
 	b, err := ce.fetcher.GetSignedBlock(ctx, height)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fetching signed block at height %d from core: %w", height, err)
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("fetched signed block from core")
 	log.Debugw("fetched signed block from core", "height", b.Header.Height)
 
 	eds, err := da.ConstructEDS(b.Data.Txs.ToSliceOfBytes(), b.Header.Version.App, -1)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("extending block data for height %d: %w", b.Header.Height, err)
 	}
+
 	// create extended header
 	eh, err := ce.construct(b.Header, b.Commit, b.ValidatorSet, eds)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("constructing extended header for height %d: %w", b.Header.Height, err))
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("exchange: constructed extended header",
+		trace.WithAttributes(attribute.Int("square_size", eh.DAH.SquareSize())),
+	)
 
 	err = storeEDS(ctx, eh, eds, ce.store, ce.availabilityWindow, ce.archival)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("exchange: stored square")
 
+	ce.metrics.observeBlockProcessed(ctx, eh.DAH.SquareSize())
 	return eh, nil
 }
diff --git a/core/exchange_metrics.go b/core/exchange_metrics.go
index 4e5bf5956c..727f1c720d 100644
--- a/core/exchange_metrics.go
+++ b/core/exchange_metrics.go
@@ -2,24 +2,24 @@ package core
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"time"
 
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric"
 
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/libs/utils"
 )
 
 type exchangeMetrics struct {
-	getByHeightDuration metric.Float64Histogram
+	totalBlocksProcessed metric.Int64Counter
 }
 
 func newExchangeMetrics() (*exchangeMetrics, error) {
 	m := new(exchangeMetrics)
 
 	var err error
-	m.getByHeightDuration, err = meter.Float64Histogram(
-		"core_ex_get_by_height_request_time",
-		metric.WithDescription("core exchange client getByHeight request time in seconds (per single height)"),
+	m.totalBlocksProcessed, err = meter.Int64Counter(
+		"core_ex_total_blocks_processed",
+		metric.WithDescription("total number of blocks processed by the exchange"),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -34,16 +34,16 @@ func (m *exchangeMetrics) observe(ctx context.Context, observeFn func(ctx contex
 	}
 
 	ctx = utils.ResetContextOnError(ctx)
-
 	observeFn(ctx)
 }
 
-func (m *exchangeMetrics) requestDurationPerHeader(ctx context.Context, duration time.Duration, amount uint64) {
+func (m *exchangeMetrics) observeBlockProcessed(ctx context.Context, edsSize int) {
 	m.observe(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) {
-		if amount == 0 {
-			return
-		}
-		durationPerHeader := duration.Seconds() / float64(amount)
-		m.getByHeightDuration.Record(ctx, durationPerHeader)
+		m.totalBlocksProcessed.Add(ctx, 1, metric.WithAttributes(edsSizeAttribute(edsSize)))
 	})
 }
+
+// edsSizeAttribute creates an attribute for the EDS square size
+func edsSizeAttribute(size int) attribute.KeyValue {
+	return attribute.Int("eds_size", size)
+}
diff --git a/core/fetcher.go b/core/fetcher.go
index 0b1a63f1a9..8e14186339 100644
--- a/core/fetcher.go
+++ b/core/fetcher.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cometbft/cometbft/types"
 	"github.com/gogo/protobuf/proto"
 	logging "github.com/ipfs/go-log/v2"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 
 	libhead "github.com/celestiaorg/go-header"
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ func (f *BlockFetcher) GetBlock(ctx context.Context, height int64) (*SignedBlock
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	block, err := receiveBlockByHeight(stream)
+	block, err := f.receiveBlockByHeight(ctx, stream)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ func (f *BlockFetcher) GetSignedBlock(ctx context.Context, height int64) (*Signe
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return receiveBlockByHeight(stream)
+	return f.receiveBlockByHeight(ctx, stream)
 }
 
 // Commit queries Core for a `Commit` from the block at
@@ -220,10 +221,12 @@ func (f *BlockFetcher) IsSyncing(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	return resp.SyncInfo.CatchingUp, nil
 }
 
-func receiveBlockByHeight(streamer coregrpc.BlockAPI_BlockByHeightClient) (
+func (f *BlockFetcher) receiveBlockByHeight(ctx context.Context, streamer coregrpc.BlockAPI_BlockByHeightClient) (
 	*SignedBlock,
 	error,
 ) {
+	span := trace.SpanFromContext(ctx)
+
 	parts := make([]*tmproto.Part, 0)
 
 	// receive the first part to get the block meta, commit, and validator set
@@ -231,6 +234,8 @@ func receiveBlockByHeight(streamer coregrpc.BlockAPI_BlockByHeightClient) (
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("fetcher: received first block part")
+
 	commit, err := types.CommitFromProto(firstPart.Commit)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -248,13 +253,17 @@ func receiveBlockByHeight(streamer coregrpc.BlockAPI_BlockByHeightClient) (
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		span.AddEvent("fetcher: received block part")
+
 		parts = append(parts, resp.BlockPart)
 		isLast = resp.IsLast
 	}
+
 	block, err := partsToBlock(parts)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	return &SignedBlock{
 		Header:       &block.Header,
 		Commit:       commit,
diff --git a/core/listener.go b/core/listener.go
index e4250ddb80..a9209d9eb5 100644
--- a/core/listener.go
+++ b/core/listener.go
@@ -8,19 +8,18 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cometbft/cometbft/types"
 	pubsub "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-pubsub"
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/v6/pkg/da"
 	libhead "github.com/celestiaorg/go-header"
 
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/header"
+	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/libs/utils"
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/share/shwap/p2p/shrex/shrexsub"
 	"github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/store"
 )
 
-var tracer = otel.Tracer("core/listener")
-
 // Listener is responsible for listening to Core for
 // new block events and converting new Core blocks into
 // the main data structure used in the Celestia DA network:
@@ -168,8 +167,12 @@ func (cl *Listener) listen(ctx context.Context, sub <-chan types.EventDataSigned
 }
 
 func (cl *Listener) handleNewSignedBlock(ctx context.Context, b types.EventDataSignedBlock) error {
-	ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "handle-new-signed-block")
-	defer span.End()
+	var err error
+
+	ctx, span := tracer.Start(ctx, "listener: handleNewSignedBlock")
+	defer func() {
+		utils.SetStatusAndEnd(span, err)
+	}()
 	span.SetAttributes(
 		attribute.Int64("height", b.Header.Height),
 	)
@@ -184,16 +187,21 @@ func (cl *Listener) handleNewSignedBlock(ctx context.Context, b types.EventDataS
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("making extended header: %w", err))
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("listener: constructed extended header",
+		trace.WithAttributes(attribute.Int("square_size", eh.DAH.SquareSize())),
+	)
 
 	err = storeEDS(ctx, eh, eds, cl.store, cl.availabilityWindow, cl.archival)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("storing EDS: %w", err)
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("listener: stored square")
 
 	syncing, err := cl.fetcher.IsSyncing(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("getting sync state: %w", err)
 	}
+	span.AddEvent("listener: fetched sync state")
 
 	// notify network of new EDS hash only if core is already synced
 	if !syncing {