diff --git a/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/beacon_chain.rs b/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/beacon_chain.rs
index 064260cfc..79c241312 100644
--- a/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/beacon_chain.rs
+++ b/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/beacon_chain.rs
@@ -1386,10 +1386,14 @@ impl<T: BeaconChainTypes> BeaconChain<T> {
 
         new_head.beacon_state.build_all_caches(&self.spec)?;
 
+        trace!(self.log, "Taking write lock on head");
+
         // Update the checkpoint that stores the head of the chain at the time it received the
         // block.
         *self.canonical_head.write() = new_head;
 
+        trace!(self.log, "Dropping write lock on head");
+
         // Save `self` to `self.store`.
         self.persist()?;
 
diff --git a/beacon_node/rpc/src/validator.rs b/beacon_node/rpc/src/validator.rs
index abc1cffc5..0533e2558 100644
--- a/beacon_node/rpc/src/validator.rs
+++ b/beacon_node/rpc/src/validator.rs
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ impl<T: BeaconChainTypes> ValidatorService for ValidatorServiceInstance<T> {
         req: GetDutiesRequest,
         sink: UnarySink<GetDutiesResponse>,
     ) {
-        let validators = req.get_validators();
         trace!(self.log, "RPC request"; "endpoint" => "GetValidatorDuties", "epoch" => req.get_epoch());
+        let validators = req.get_validators();
 
         let epoch = Epoch::from(req.get_epoch());
         let slot = epoch.start_slot(T::EthSpec::slots_per_epoch());
diff --git a/validator_client/Cargo.toml b/validator_client/Cargo.toml
index d360b93bd..dae07d76c 100644
--- a/validator_client/Cargo.toml
+++ b/validator_client/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ slot_clock = { path = "../eth2/utils/slot_clock" }
 types = { path = "../eth2/types" }
 serde = "1.0"
 serde_derive = "1.0"
-slog = "^2.2.3"
+slog = { version = "^2.2.3" , features = ["max_level_trace", "release_max_level_trace"] }
 slog-async = "^2.3.0"
 slog-json = "^2.3"
 slog-term = "^2.4.0"
diff --git a/validator_client/src/config.rs b/validator_client/src/config.rs
index 0b4f20ff6..33e8addb6 100644
--- a/validator_client/src/config.rs
+++ b/validator_client/src/config.rs
@@ -232,7 +232,11 @@ impl Config {
         let keypairs = match &self.key_source {
             KeySource::Disk => self.fetch_keys_from_disk(log)?,
             KeySource::TestingKeypairRange(range) => {
-                warn!(log, "Using insecure private keys");
+                warn!(
+                    log,
+                    "Using insecure interop private keys";
+                    "range" => format!("{:?}", range)
+                );
                 self.fetch_testing_keypairs(range.clone())?
             }
             KeySource::YamlKeypairs(path) => {
diff --git a/validator_client/src/main.rs b/validator_client/src/main.rs
index c0d6961f0..e445218eb 100644
--- a/validator_client/src/main.rs
+++ b/validator_client/src/main.rs
@@ -82,7 +82,8 @@ fn main() {
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::with_name("server-grpc-port")
-                .long("g")
+                .long("server-grpc-port")
+                .short("g")
                 .value_name("PORT")
                 .help("Port to use for gRPC API connection to the server.")
                 .default_value(DEFAULT_SERVER_GRPC_PORT)
@@ -90,7 +91,8 @@ fn main() {
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::with_name("server-http-port")
-                .long("h")
+                .long("server-http-port")
+                .short("h")
                 .value_name("PORT")
                 .help("Port to use for HTTP API connection to the server.")
                 .default_value(DEFAULT_SERVER_HTTP_PORT)
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ fn main() {
                 .help("The title of the spec constants for chain config.")
                 .takes_value(true)
                 .possible_values(&["info", "debug", "trace", "warn", "error", "crit"])
-                .default_value("info"),
+                .default_value("trace"),
         )
         /*
          * The "testnet" sub-command.
@@ -152,7 +154,9 @@ fn main() {
         Some("crit") => drain.filter_level(Level::Critical),
         _ => unreachable!("guarded by clap"),
     };
+
     let mut log = slog::Logger::root(drain.fuse(), o!());
+
     let (client_config, eth2_config) = match get_configs(&matches, &mut log) {
         Ok(tuple) => tuple,
         Err(e) => {
diff --git a/validator_client/src/service.rs b/validator_client/src/service.rs
index ba4f3c133..fd8de71ca 100644
--- a/validator_client/src/service.rs
+++ b/validator_client/src/service.rs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ use protos::services_grpc::{
     AttestationServiceClient, BeaconBlockServiceClient, BeaconNodeServiceClient,
     ValidatorServiceClient,
 };
-use slog::{crit, error, info, warn};
+use slog::{crit, error, info, trace, warn};
 use slot_clock::{SlotClock, SystemTimeSlotClock};
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -289,6 +289,11 @@ impl<B: BeaconNodeDuties + 'static, S: Signer + 'static, E: EthSpec> Service<B,
         /* process any required duties for validators */
         self.process_duties();
 
+        trace!(
+            self.log,
+            "Per slot execution finished";
+        );
+
         Ok(())
     }
 
@@ -328,6 +333,13 @@ impl<B: BeaconNodeDuties + 'static, S: Signer + 'static, E: EthSpec> Service<B,
             .current_slot
             .expect("The current slot must be updated before checking for duties")
             .epoch(self.slots_per_epoch);
+
+        trace!(
+            self.log,
+            "Checking for duties";
+            "epoch" => current_epoch
+        );
+
         // spawn a new thread separate to the runtime
         // TODO: Handle thread termination/timeout
         // TODO: Add duties thread back in, with channel to process duties in duty change.
@@ -345,6 +357,12 @@ impl<B: BeaconNodeDuties + 'static, S: Signer + 'static, E: EthSpec> Service<B,
             self.current_slot
                 .expect("The current slot must be updated before processing duties"),
         ) {
+            trace!(
+                self.log,
+                "Processing duties";
+                "work_items" => work.len()
+            );
+
             for (signer_index, work_type) in work {
                 if work_type.produce_block {
                     // we need to produce a block