diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/JdbcFilter.java b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/JdbcFilter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98d26af4eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/JdbcFilter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/*-
+ * #%L
+ * Elastic APM Java agent
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 - 2019 Elastic and contributors
+ * %%
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * #L%
+ */
+package co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature;
+
+class JdbcFilter {
+
+    private boolean inQuote = false;
+    private boolean inJdbcEscape = false;
+    private boolean jdbcKeyWord = false;
+
+    boolean skip(Scanner s, char c) {
+        switch (c) {
+            case '{':
+                if (!inQuote) {
+                    inJdbcEscape = true;
+                    jdbcKeyWord = true;
+                    return true;
+                }
+                break;
+            case 'o':
+            case 'O':
+                if (!inQuote && inJdbcEscape && jdbcKeyWord && s.isNextCharIgnoreCase('j')) {
+                    s.next();
+                    jdbcKeyWord = false;
+                    return true;
+                }
+                break;
+            case '}':
+                if (!inQuote) {
+                    inJdbcEscape = false;
+                    return true;
+                }
+                break;
+            case '?':
+            case '=':
+                if (!inQuote && inJdbcEscape) {
+                    return true;
+                }
+                break;
+            case '\'':
+                inQuote = !inQuote;
+                break;
+        }
+        jdbcKeyWord = false;
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    void reset() {
+        inQuote = false;
+        inJdbcEscape = false;
+        jdbcKeyWord = false;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/Scanner.java b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/Scanner.java
index 7ef39cfefc..5d5b6316ed 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/Scanner.java
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/Scanner.java
@@ -31,9 +31,11 @@ public class Scanner {
     private int end; // text end char offset
     private int pos; // read position char offset
     private int inputLength;
+    private final JdbcFilter filter = new JdbcFilter();
 
     public void setQuery(String sql) {
         this.input = sql;
+        filter.reset();
         inputLength = sql.length();
         start = 0;
         end = 0;
@@ -74,7 +76,7 @@ public Token scan() {
             return Token.EOF;
         }
         char c = next();
-        while (Character.isSpaceChar(c)) {
+        while (Character.isSpaceChar(c) || filter.skip(this, c)) {
             if (hasNext()) {
                 c = next();
             } else {
@@ -301,7 +303,7 @@ private char peek() {
         return input.charAt(pos);
     }
 
-    private char next() {
+    char next() {
         final char c = peek();
         pos++;
         end = pos;
@@ -347,6 +349,10 @@ private boolean isNextChar(char c) {
         return hasNext() && peek() == c;
     }
 
+    boolean isNextCharIgnoreCase(char c) {
+        return hasNext() && Character.toLowerCase(peek()) == Character.toLowerCase(c);
+    }
+
     public enum Token {
 
         OTHER,
@@ -373,7 +379,9 @@ public enum Token {
         SET,
         TABLE,
         TRUNCATE, // Cassandra/CQL-specific
-        UPDATE;
+        UPDATE,
+        MERGE,
+        USING;
 
         private static final Token[] EMPTY = {};
         private static final Token[][] KEYWORDS_BY_LENGTH = {
@@ -382,7 +390,7 @@ public enum Token {
             {AS, OR},
             {SET},
             {CALL, FROM, INTO},
-            {TABLE},
+            {TABLE, MERGE, USING},
             {DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE},
             {REPLACE},
             {TRUNCATE}
diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParser.java b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParser.java
index 7dd157933c..3234e9cb6e 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParser.java
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/main/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParser.java
@@ -24,12 +24,14 @@
  */
 package co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature;
 
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 
 import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.EOF;
 import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.FROM;
 import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.IDENT;
+import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.INTO;
 import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.LPAREN;
 import static co.elastic.apm.agent.jdbc.signature.Scanner.Token.RPAREN;
 
@@ -54,55 +56,61 @@ public class SignatureParser {
      * When relying on weak keys, we would not leverage any caching benefits if the query string is collected.
      * That means that we are leaking Strings but as the size of the map is limited that should not be an issue.
      */
-    private final static ConcurrentMap<String, String> signatureCache = new ConcurrentHashMap<String, String>(DISABLE_CACHE_THRESHOLD, 0.5f, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors());
+    private final static ConcurrentMap<String, String[]> signatureCache = new ConcurrentHashMap<String, String[]>(DISABLE_CACHE_THRESHOLD,
+            0.5f, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors());
 
     private final Scanner scanner = new Scanner();
 
     public void querySignature(String query, StringBuilder signature, boolean preparedStatement) {
+        querySignature(query, signature, null, preparedStatement);
+    }
 
+    public void querySignature(String query, StringBuilder signature, @Nullable StringBuilder dbLink, boolean preparedStatement) {
         final boolean cacheable = preparedStatement // non-prepared statements are likely to be dynamic strings
             && QUERY_LENGTH_CACHE_LOWER_THRESHOLD < query.length()
             && query.length() < QUERY_LENGTH_CACHE_UPPER_THRESHOLD;
         if (cacheable) {
-            final String cachedSignature = signatureCache.get(query);
+            final String[] cachedSignature = signatureCache.get(query);
             if (cachedSignature != null) {
-                signature.append(cachedSignature);
+                signature.append(cachedSignature[0]);
+                if (dbLink != null) {
+                    dbLink.append(cachedSignature[1]);
+                }
                 return;
             }
         }
 
         scanner.setQuery(query);
-        parse(query, signature);
+        parse(query, signature, dbLink);
 
         if (cacheable && signatureCache.size() <= DISABLE_CACHE_THRESHOLD) {
             // we don't mind a small overshoot due to race conditions
-            signatureCache.put(query, signature.toString());
+            signatureCache.put(query, new String[]{signature.toString(), dbLink != null ? dbLink.toString() : ""});
         }
     }
 
-    private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
+    private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature, @Nullable StringBuilder dbLink) {
         final Scanner.Token firstToken = scanner.scanWhile(Scanner.Token.COMMENT);
         switch (firstToken) {
             case CALL:
                 signature.append("CALL");
                 if (scanner.scanUntil(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
-                    signature.append(' ');
-                    scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
+                    appendIdentifiers(signature, dbLink);
                 }
                 return;
             case DELETE:
                 signature.append("DELETE");
                 if (scanner.scanUntil(FROM) && scanner.scanUntil(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
-                    signature.append(" FROM ");
-                    appendIdentifiers(signature);
+                    signature.append(" FROM");
+                    appendIdentifiers(signature, dbLink);
                 }
                 return;
             case INSERT:
             case REPLACE:
                 signature.append(firstToken.name());
                 if (scanner.scanUntil(Scanner.Token.INTO) && scanner.scanUntil(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
-                    signature.append(" INTO ");
-                    appendIdentifiers(signature);
+                    signature.append(" INTO");
+                    appendIdentifiers(signature, dbLink);
                 }
                 return;
             case SELECT:
@@ -116,8 +124,8 @@ private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
                     } else if (t == FROM) {
                         if (level == 0) {
                             if (scanner.scanToken(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
-                                signature.append(" FROM ");
-                                appendIdentifiers(signature);
+                                signature.append(" FROM");
+                                appendIdentifiers(signature, dbLink);
                             } else {
                                 return;
                             }
@@ -128,7 +136,7 @@ private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
             case UPDATE:
                 signature.append("UPDATE");
                 // Scan for the table name
-                boolean hasPeriod = false, hasFirstPeriod = false;
+                boolean hasPeriod = false, hasFirstPeriod = false, isDbLink = false;
                 if (scanner.scanToken(IDENT)) {
                     signature.append(' ');
                     scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
@@ -145,6 +153,11 @@ private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
                                     signature.setLength(0);
                                     signature.append("UPDATE ");
                                     scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
+                                } else if (isDbLink) {
+                                    if (dbLink != null) {
+                                        scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(dbLink);
+                                    }
+                                    isDbLink = false;
                                 }
                                 // Two adjacent identifiers found after the first period.
                                 // Ignore the secondary ones, in case they are unknown keywords.
@@ -155,11 +168,23 @@ private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
                                 signature.append('.');
                                 break;
                             default:
-                                return;
+                                if ("@".equals(scanner.text())) {
+                                    isDbLink = true;
+                                    break;
+                                } else {
+                                    return;
+                                }
                         }
                     }
                 }
                 return;
+            case MERGE:
+                signature.append("MERGE");
+                if (scanner.scanToken(INTO) && scanner.scanUntil(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
+                    signature.append(" INTO");
+                    appendIdentifiers(signature, dbLink);
+                }
+                return;
             default:
                 query = query.trim();
                 final int indexOfWhitespace = query.indexOf(' ');
@@ -167,11 +192,38 @@ private void parse(String query, StringBuilder signature) {
         }
     }
 
-    private void appendIdentifiers(StringBuilder signature) {
+    private void appendIdentifiers(StringBuilder signature, @Nullable StringBuilder dbLink) {
+        signature.append(' ');
         scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
-        while (scanner.scanToken(Scanner.Token.PERIOD) && scanner.scanToken(Scanner.Token.IDENT)) {
-            signature.append('.');
-            scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
+        boolean connectedIdents = false, isDbLink = false;
+        for (Scanner.Token t = scanner.scan(); t != EOF; t = scanner.scan()) {
+            switch (t) {
+                case IDENT:
+                    // do not add tokens which are separated by a space
+                    if (connectedIdents) {
+                        scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(signature);
+                        connectedIdents = false;
+                    } else {
+                        if (isDbLink) {
+                            if (dbLink != null) {
+                                scanner.appendCurrentTokenText(dbLink);
+                            }
+                        }
+                        return;
+                    }
+                    break;
+                case PERIOD:
+                    signature.append('.');
+                    connectedIdents = true;
+                    break;
+                case USING:
+                    return;
+                default:
+                    if ("@".equals(scanner.text())) {
+                        isDbLink = true;
+                    }
+                    break;
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParserTest.java b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParserTest.java
index 961660d2f8..b64f09fa9f 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParserTest.java
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/java/co/elastic/apm/agent/jdbc/signature/SignatureParserTest.java
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@
  * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
  * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
  * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
  * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
@@ -26,20 +26,21 @@
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 
 class SignatureParserTest {
 
-    private SignatureParser signatureParser;
-    private JsonNode testCases;
+    private static SignatureParser signatureParser;
+    private static JsonNode testCases;
 
-    @BeforeEach
-    void setUp() throws Exception {
+    @BeforeAll
+    static void setUp() throws Exception {
         signatureParser = new SignatureParser();
-        testCases = new ObjectMapper().readTree(getClass().getResource("/signature_tests.json"));
+        testCases = new ObjectMapper().readTree(SignatureParserTest.class.getResource("/signature_tests.json"));
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -50,6 +51,49 @@ void testScanner() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testDbLinkForUpdate() {
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        final StringBuilder dblink = new StringBuilder();
+        signatureParser.querySignature("UPDATE foo.bar@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\" SET bar=1 WHERE baz=2", sb, dblink, false);
+        assertThat(dblink.toString()).isEqualTo("DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testDbLink() {
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        final StringBuilder dblink = new StringBuilder();
+        signatureParser.querySignature("SELECT * FROM TABLE1@DBLINK", sb, dblink, false);
+        assertThat(dblink.toString()).isEqualTo("DBLINK");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testDbLinkCache() {
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        final StringBuilder dblink = new StringBuilder();
+        signatureParser.querySignature("SELECT * FROM TABLE1@DBLINK", sb, dblink, true);
+        sb.setLength(0);
+        dblink.setLength(0);
+        signatureParser.querySignature("SELECT * FROM TABLE1@DBLINK", sb, dblink, true);
+        assertThat(dblink.toString()).isEqualTo("DBLINK");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testDbLinkFqdn() {
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        final StringBuilder dblink = new StringBuilder();
+        signatureParser.querySignature("SELECT * FROM TABLE1@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM\"", sb, dblink, false);
+        assertThat(dblink.toString()).isEqualTo("DBLINK.FQDN.COM");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testDbLinkFqdnWithUser() {
+        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+        final StringBuilder dblink = new StringBuilder();
+        signatureParser.querySignature("SELECT * FROM TABLE1@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\"", sb, dblink, false);
+        assertThat(dblink.toString()).isEqualTo("DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER");
+    }
+
     String getSignature(String query) {
         final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         signatureParser.querySignature(query, sb, false);
diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/resources/signature_tests.json b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/resources/signature_tests.json
index 564fbbf814..1ac1ec59cb 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/resources/signature_tests.json
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-jdbc-plugin/src/test/resources/signature_tests.json
@@ -51,6 +51,15 @@
     "comment": "We capture the first table of the outermost select statement",
     "input": "SELECT *,(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table2 WHERE table2.field1 = table1.id) AS count FROM table1 WHERE table1.field1 = 'value'",
     "output": "SELECT FROM table1"
+  },  
+  {
+    "comment": "JDBC escape syntax join",
+    "input": "SELECT * FROM {oj Countries JOIN Cities ON (Countries.country_ISO_code=Cities.country_ISO_code)}",
+    "output": "SELECT FROM Countries"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "SELECT *,(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table2 WHERE table2.field1 = table1.id) AS count FROM schema.table1@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\" WHERE table1.field1 = 'value'",
+    "output": "SELECT FROM schema.table1"
   },
   {
     "comment": "If the outermost select operates on derived tables, then we just return 'SELECT' (i.e. the fallback)",
@@ -65,6 +74,10 @@
     "input": "UPDATE IGNORE foo.bar SET bar=1 WHERE baz=2",
     "output": "UPDATE foo.bar"
   },
+  {
+    "input": "UPDATE IGNORE foo.bar@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\" SET bar=1 WHERE baz=2",
+    "output": "UPDATE foo.bar"
+  },
   {
     "input": "UPDATE ONLY foo AS bar SET baz=1",
     "output": "UPDATE foo"
@@ -77,6 +90,10 @@
     "input": "INSERT LOW_PRIORITY IGNORE INTO foo.bar (col) VALUES(?)",
     "output": "INSERT INTO foo.bar"
   },
+  {
+    "input": "INSERT LOW_PRIORITY IGNORE INTO schema.table1@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\" (col) VALUES(?)",
+    "output": "INSERT INTO schema.table1"
+  },
   {
     "input": "CALL foo(bar, 123)",
     "output": "CALL foo"
@@ -139,8 +156,72 @@
     "input": "DELETE FROM",
     "output": "DELETE"
   },
+  {
+    "input": "DELETE FROM schema.table1@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\"",
+    "output": "DELETE FROM schema.table1"
+  },
   {
     "input": "CALL",
     "output": "CALL"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO TEST USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO TEST ALIAS USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST@DBLINK USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM\" USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\" USING (SELECT * FROM DUAL) SOURCE on (TEST.X=SOURCE.DUMMY) WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES(SOURCE.DUMMY)",
+    "output": "MERGE INTO SCHEMA.TEST"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "MERGE",
+    "output": "MERGE"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{ ? = call FUNCTION() }",
+    "output": "CALL FUNCTION"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{ ? = call oj() }",
+    "output": "CALL oj"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{ ? = call SCHEMA.FUNCTION() }",
+    "output": "CALL SCHEMA.FUNCTION"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{ ? = call SCHEMA.FUNCTION@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\"() }",
+    "output": "CALL SCHEMA.FUNCTION"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{ call PROCEDURE() }",
+    "output": "CALL PROCEDURE"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{call SCHEMA.PROCEDURE() }",
+    "output": "CALL SCHEMA.PROCEDURE"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{call SCHEMA.PROCEDURE@\"DBLINK.FQDN.COM@USER\"() }",
+    "output": "CALL SCHEMA.PROCEDURE"
+  },
+  {
+    "input": "{call PROCEDURE() }",
+    "output": "CALL PROCEDURE"
   }
 ]