diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 503eae69..dd99a27e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - clean up html report UI, support batched `eth_sendRawTransaction` latency metrics ([#455](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/455))
 - added `--scenario-label` flag to deploy and spam the same scenario under different labels ([#456](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/456))
 - fix: generate report when `--gen-report` is passed to `spam` ([#457](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/457))
+- control `SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT` with env var ([#461](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/461))
 
 ## [0.8.1](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/releases/tag/v0.8.1) - 2026-02-09
 
diff --git a/crates/core/CHANGELOG.md b/crates/core/CHANGELOG.md
index a614e7ad..4d409ec1 100644
--- a/crates/core/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/crates/core/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
-- added `scenario_label` support to apply contract name labels at the DB boundary
+- added `scenario_label` support to apply contract name labels at the DB boundary ([#456](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/456))
+- control `SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT` with env var ([#461](https://github.com/flashbots/contender/pull/461))
 
 ### Breaking changes
 
diff --git a/crates/core/src/test_scenario.rs b/crates/core/src/test_scenario.rs
index 1870fb43..9417f4fb 100644
--- a/crates/core/src/test_scenario.rs
+++ b/crates/core/src/test_scenario.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ use contender_bundle_provider::{
 use contender_engine_provider::ControlChain;
 use futures::{Stream, StreamExt};
 use serde_json::json;
+use std::sync::LazyLock;
 use std::{
     collections::{BTreeMap, HashMap},
     pin::Pin,
@@ -58,8 +59,16 @@ use tracing::{debug, info, trace, warn};
 
 pub use alloy::transports::http::reqwest::Url;
 
+/// Reads the SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT from the environment, defaults to 25 if not set or invalid.
+fn read_setup_concurrency_limit() -> usize {
+    std::env::var("SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|val| val.parse::<usize>().ok())
+        .unwrap_or(25)
+}
+
 /// Maximum concurrent setup tasks (limits open HTTP connections).
-const SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT: usize = 25;
+pub static SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT: LazyLock<usize> = LazyLock::new(read_setup_concurrency_limit);
 
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct PrometheusCollector {
@@ -681,7 +690,7 @@ where
         let genesis_hash = self.ctx.genesis_hash;
         let blob_base_fee = get_blob_fee_maybe(&self.rpc_client, self.tx_type).await;
 
-        let semaphore = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Semaphore::new(SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT));
+        let semaphore = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Semaphore::new(*SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT));
 
         let (_txs, updated_nonces) = self
             .load_txs(PlanType::Setup(|tx_req| {
@@ -1917,7 +1926,7 @@ pub mod tests {
     };
     use crate::spammer::util::test::get_test_signers;
     use crate::spammer::{BlockwiseSpammer, NilCallback, Spammer};
-    use crate::test_scenario::TestScenario;
+    use crate::test_scenario::{read_setup_concurrency_limit, TestScenario};
     use crate::Error;
     use crate::Result;
     use alloy::consensus::constants::GWEI_TO_WEI;
@@ -2705,7 +2714,7 @@ pub mod tests {
     /// Reproduces the erc20-like pattern where many steps share one sender.
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn run_setup_sequential_nonces_single_sender() {
-        let num_steps = SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT * 3;
+        let num_steps = *SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT * 3;
         let (_anvil, mut scenario) = setup_scenario_with_anvil(
             SequentialNonceMockConfig { num_steps },
             AgentSpec::default(),
@@ -2735,8 +2744,9 @@ pub mod tests {
         let num_setup_steps = HighConcurrencyMockConfig.get_setup_steps().unwrap().len();
         let expected_tasks = num_setup_steps * num_setup_accounts;
         assert!(
-            expected_tasks > SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT,
-            "test should generate more tasks ({expected_tasks}) than the concurrency limit ({SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT})"
+            expected_tasks > *SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT,
+            "test should generate more tasks ({expected_tasks}) than the concurrency limit ({})",
+            *SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT
         );
 
         let result = scenario.run_setup().await;
@@ -2746,4 +2756,18 @@ pub mod tests {
             result.err()
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn env_controls_setup_concurrency_limit() {
+        std::env::set_var("SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT", "5");
+        let new_limit = read_setup_concurrency_limit();
+        assert_eq!(new_limit, 5, "SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT should be set to 5");
+
+        std::env::remove_var("SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT");
+        let default_limit = read_setup_concurrency_limit();
+        assert_eq!(
+            default_limit, 25,
+            "SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT should default to 25 when env var is unset"
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/docs/examples.md b/docs/examples.md
index 7e391b8b..7740d748 100644
--- a/docs/examples.md
+++ b/docs/examples.md
@@ -68,3 +68,20 @@ args = []
 ```bash
 contender spam ./example.toml --tps 10 -e testAddr=0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000013
 ```
+
+## setup concurrency
+
+**Setup steps** can be executed in two ways: `contender setup` with a file-based scenario, or `contender spam` with a builtin scenario.
+
+By default, setup steps will send up to **25 transactions**, and wait for them to land onchain before sending more.
+
+To change this amount, set `SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT` in your environment:
+
+```bash
+# only send 10 txs at a time
+# run the erc20 scenario with 50 accounts per agent (-a)
+SETUP_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT=10 \
+contender spam --tps 50 -a 50 erc20
+```
+
+The builtin `erc20` scenario creates a setup step for each account, so in this case we'd have 50 setup txs to send, and you'd see 5 batches of 10 txs landing onchain, one after another.