diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-ftrace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-ftrace.c
index d05658d2b8f11cee5a3b58e66a29ec00f5acf3f6..414444d0e919fb4eee88227dadaaeafb69323658 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-ftrace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-ftrace.c
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ int cmd_ftrace(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 {
 	int ret;
 	struct perf_ftrace ftrace = {
-		.tracer = "function_graph",
+		.tracer = DEFAULT_TRACER,
 		.target = { .uid = UINT_MAX, },
 	};
 	const char * const ftrace_usage[] = {
@@ -231,9 +231,6 @@ int cmd_ftrace(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto out_delete_evlist;
 
-	if (ftrace.tracer == NULL)
-		ftrace.tracer = DEFAULT_TRACER;
-
 	ret = __cmd_ftrace(&ftrace, argc, argv);
 
 out_delete_evlist: