diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index e3f10bd33..08e144580 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -215,10 +215,10 @@ var (
 		Usage: `Time of tick`,
 		Value: time.Second * 2,
 	}
-	TxLookupLimitFlag = cli.Int64Flag{
+	TxLookupLimitFlag = cli.Uint64Flag{
 		Name:  "txlookuplimit",
-		Usage: "Number of recent blocks to maintain transactions index by-hash for (default = index all blocks)",
-		Value: 0,
+		Usage: "Number of recent blocks to maintain transactions index for (default = about one year, 0 = entire chain)",
+		Value: ethconfig.Defaults.TxLookupLimit,
 	}
 	LightServFlag = cli.IntFlag{
 		Name:  "lightserv",
diff --git a/eth/ethconfig/config.go b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
index 214bf8310..faafbc155 100644
--- a/eth/ethconfig/config.go
+++ b/eth/ethconfig/config.go
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ var Defaults = Config{
 		DatasetsLockMmap: false,
 	},
 	NetworkID:               1,
+	TxLookupLimit:           2350000,
 	LightPeers:              100,
 	UltraLightFraction:      75,
 	DatabaseCache:           512,