A system and method for a synthetic trace model includes providing a first system model, the first system model comprising a plurality of subsystem models, each of the plurality of subsystem models having a trace format, generating a first plurality of traces from an overall pool of trace instructions, each of the first plurality of traces generated for respective ones of the plurality of subsystem models, according to the trace format of the subsystem model, executing the traces on each of the subsystem models, and evaluating execution characteristics for each trace executed on the first system model.