diff --git a/src/dmd/hdrgen.d b/src/dmd/hdrgen.d
index 42795cd17d82..ae049fcaf89a 100644
--- a/src/dmd/hdrgen.d
+++ b/src/dmd/hdrgen.d
@@ -2759,7 +2759,8 @@ public:
     override void visit(TraitsExp e)
     {
         buf.writestring("__traits(");
-        buf.writestring(e.ident.toString());
+        if (e.ident)
+            buf.writestring(e.ident.toString());
         if (e.args)
         {
             foreach (arg; *e.args)
diff --git a/src/dmd/parse.d b/src/dmd/parse.d
index 1ed0f20c422f..88a4bb67ea24 100644
--- a/src/dmd/parse.d
+++ b/src/dmd/parse.d
@@ -3725,9 +3725,12 @@ final class Parser(AST) : Lexer
 
         case TOK.traits:
             if (AST.TraitsExp te = cast(AST.TraitsExp) parsePrimaryExp())
-                t = new AST.TypeTraits(token.loc, te);
-            else
-                t = new AST.TypeError;
+                if (te.ident && te.args)
+                {
+                    t = new AST.TypeTraits(token.loc, te);
+                    break;
+                }
+            t = new AST.TypeError;
             break;
 
         case TOK.const_:
diff --git a/test/fail_compilation/traits_alone.d b/test/fail_compilation/traits_alone.d
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..74dc9a844611
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fail_compilation/traits_alone.d
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+//used to segfault
+__traits