diff --git a/src/s5p/server.py b/src/s5p/server.py
index f2be5fd..42df0cc 100644
--- a/src/s5p/server.py
+++ b/src/s5p/server.py
@@ -214,6 +214,13 @@ async def _metrics_logger(
 
 async def serve(config: Config) -> None:
     """Start the SOCKS5 proxy server."""
+    # register signal handlers early so SIGTERM is never ignored
+    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+    stop = loop.create_future()
+
+    for sig in (signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIGINT):
+        loop.add_signal_handler(sig, lambda s=sig: stop.set_result(s))
+
     metrics = Metrics()
 
     proxy_pool: ProxyPool | None = None
@@ -252,12 +259,6 @@ async def serve(config: Config) -> None:
         )
         logger.info("  retries: %d", config.retries)
 
-    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
-    stop = loop.create_future()
-
-    for sig in (signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIGINT):
-        loop.add_signal_handler(sig, lambda s=sig: stop.set_result(s))
-
     # SIGHUP: hot-reload config (timeout, retries, log_level, pool settings)
     async def _reload() -> None:
         if not config.config_file: