The example embodiments are directed to a system and method for dynamically controlling a flow of a stream processing application. The method may include executing the application which reads data from a data source and writes data to a target destination, and which includes a pipeline of operators which perform different operations on the data, determining a runtime performance of the pipeline of operators included in the stream processing application, and dynamically synchronizing the runtime performance of each of the operators in the pipeline of operators of the stream processing application by changing a processing speed of at least one operator. By changing the speed of the at least one operator a performance of all operators can be synchronized to accommodate dynamic characteristics of the processing environment such as target database conditions, operator processing performance, and the like, which can change during runtime.