diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/Maxwell.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/Maxwell.java
index f363c06a4..191666ded 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/Maxwell.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/Maxwell.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ private void initFirstRun(Connection connection) throws SQLException, IOExceptio
 		SchemaStore store = new SchemaStore(connection, this.context.getServerID(), this.schema, pos);
 		store.save();
 
-		this.context.setInitialPosition(pos);
+		this.context.setPosition(pos);
 	}
 
 	private void run(String[] argv) throws Exception {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent.java
index 8bb91a270..593fa94c6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent.java
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ public void setTXCommit() {
 		this.txCommit = true;
 	}
 
+	public boolean isTXCommit() {
+		return txCommit;
+	}
+
 
 	@Override
 	public String toString() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellContext.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellContext.java
index f2e0cb9fb..75c4a0f56 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellContext.java
@@ -56,11 +56,16 @@ public BinlogPosition getInitialPosition() throws FileNotFoundException, IOExcep
 		return this.initialPosition;
 	}
 
-	public void setInitialPosition(BinlogPosition position) throws SQLException {
+	public void setPosition(MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent e) throws SQLException {
+		if ( e.isTXCommit() ) {
+			this.setPosition(e.getNextBinlogPosition());
+		}
+	}
+	public void setPosition(BinlogPosition position) throws SQLException {
 		this.getSchemaPosition().set(position);
 	}
 
-	public void setInitialPositionSync(BinlogPosition position) throws SQLException {
+	public void setPositionSync(BinlogPosition position) throws SQLException {
 		this.getSchemaPosition().setSync(position);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellParser.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellParser.java
index 2a26a2c6c..f16deba43 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellParser.java
@@ -99,17 +99,19 @@ public void stop(long timeoutMS) throws TimeoutException {
 			throw new TimeoutException("Maxwell's main parser thread didn't die after " + timeoutMS + "ms.");
 	}
 
+	private void ensureReplicatorThread() throws Exception {
+		if ( !replicator.isRunning() ) {
+			LOGGER.warn("open-replicator stopped at position " + replicator.getBinlogFileName() + ":" + replicator.getBinlogPosition() + " -- restarting");
+			replicator.start();
+		}
+	}
+
 	private void doRun() throws Exception {
 		MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent event;
 
 		while ( this.runState == RunState.RUNNING ) {
 			event = getEvent();
 
-			if ( !replicator.isRunning() ) {
-				LOGGER.warn("open-replicator stopped at position " + replicator.getBinlogFileName() + ":" + replicator.getBinlogPosition() + " -- restarting");
-				replicator.start();
-			}
-
 			context.ensurePositionThread();
 
 			if ( event == null )
@@ -118,9 +120,6 @@ private void doRun() throws Exception {
 			if ( !skipEvent(event)) {
 				producer.push(event);
 			}
-
-			replicator.setBinlogFileName(event.getBinlogFilename());
-			replicator.setBinlogPosition(event.getHeader().getNextPosition());
 		}
 
 		try {
@@ -199,8 +198,10 @@ private LinkedList<MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent> getTransactionEvents() throws Excep
 
 		while ( true ) {
 			v4Event = pollV4EventFromQueue();
-			if (v4Event == null)
+			if (v4Event == null) {
+				ensureReplicatorThread();
 				continue;
+			}
 
 			switch(v4Event.getHeader().getEventType()) {
 				case MySQLConstants.WRITE_ROWS_EVENT:
@@ -214,6 +215,9 @@ private LinkedList<MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent> getTransactionEvents() throws Excep
 
 					if ( event.matchesFilter() )
 						list.add(event);
+
+					setReplicatorPosition(event);
+
 					break;
 				case MySQLConstants.TABLE_MAP_EVENT:
 					tableCache.processEvent(this.schema, (TableMapEvent) v4Event);
@@ -262,7 +266,10 @@ public MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent getEvent() throws Exception {
 
 			v4Event = pollV4EventFromQueue();
 
-			if (v4Event == null) return null;
+			if (v4Event == null) {
+				ensureReplicatorThread();
+				return null;
+			}
 
 			switch (v4Event.getHeader().getEventType()) {
 				case MySQLConstants.WRITE_ROWS_EVENT:
@@ -286,6 +293,8 @@ public MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent getEvent() throws Exception {
 				default:
 					break;
 			}
+
+			setReplicatorPosition((AbstractBinlogEventV4) v4Event);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -315,7 +324,7 @@ private void processQueryEvent(QueryEvent event) throws SchemaSyncError, SQLExce
 			try ( Connection c = this.context.getConnectionPool().getConnection() ) {
 				new SchemaStore(c, this.context.getServerID(), schema, p).save();
 			}
-			this.context.setInitialPositionSync(p);
+			this.context.setPositionSync(p);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -347,6 +356,10 @@ public void setFilter(MaxwellFilter filter) {
 		this.filter = filter;
 	}
 
+	private void setReplicatorPosition(AbstractBinlogEventV4 e) {
+		replicator.setBinlogFileName(e.getBinlogFilename());
+		replicator.setBinlogPosition(e.getHeader().getNextPosition());
+	}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/StdoutProducer.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/StdoutProducer.java
index e0fe9b332..58995b47e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/StdoutProducer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/StdoutProducer.java
@@ -12,6 +12,6 @@ public void push(MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent e) throws Exception {
 		for ( String json : e.toJSONStrings() ) {
 			System.out.println(json);
 		}
-		this.context.setInitialPosition(e.getNextBinlogPosition());
+		this.context.setPosition(e);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/FileProducer.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/FileProducer.java
index 8895ba05f..6b5bc7002 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/FileProducer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/FileProducer.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ public void push(MaxwellAbstractRowsEvent e) throws Exception {
 			this.fileWriter.write('\n');
 			this.fileWriter.flush();
 		}
-		context.setInitialPosition(e.getNextBinlogPosition());
+
+		context.setPosition(e);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/MaxwellKafkaProducer.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/MaxwellKafkaProducer.java
index 72534dcca..26154d253 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/MaxwellKafkaProducer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/MaxwellKafkaProducer.java
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ public void onCompletion(RecordMetadata md, Exception e) {
 					LOGGER.debug("");
 				}
 				if ( this.lastRowInEvent ) {
-					context.setInitialPosition(event.getNextBinlogPosition());
+					context.setPosition(event);
 				}
 			} catch (SQLException e1) {
 				e1.printStackTrace();
@@ -60,13 +60,16 @@ public class MaxwellKafkaProducer extends AbstractProducer {
 		"metadata.fetch.timeout.ms", 5000
 	};
 	private final KafkaProducer<byte[], byte[]> kafka;
-	private final String topic;
+	private String topic;
 	private final int numPartitions;
 
 	public MaxwellKafkaProducer(MaxwellContext context, Properties kafkaProperties, String kafkaTopic) {
 		super(context);
 
-		topic = (kafkaTopic == null) ? "maxwell": kafkaTopic;
+		this.topic = kafkaTopic;
+		if ( this.topic == null ) {
+			this.topic = "maxwell";
+		}
 
 		this.setDefaults(kafkaProperties);
 		this.kafka = new KafkaProducer<>(kafkaProperties, new ByteArraySerializer(), new ByteArraySerializer());