diff --git a/synapse/notifier.py b/synapse/notifier.py
index df1b87c945..961ea92e0d 100644
--- a/synapse/notifier.py
+++ b/synapse/notifier.py
@@ -884,6 +884,17 @@ class Notifier:
         """
         Wait for this worker to catch up with the given stream token.
 
+        If the token has positions ahead of our persisted positions in the database
+        (invalid), then we simply wait until we catch-up to our max persisted position
+        (recover gracefully); instead of waiting for a position that may never come
+        around. We have a 10 second timeout here but upstream usage will just return the
+        same token as the `next_batch` and the user will try again which could cause no
+        progress to be made.
+
+        This can happen due to older versions of Synapse giving out stream positions
+        without persisting them in the DB, and so on restart the stream would get reset
+        back to an older position.
+
         Returns:
             True when this worker has caught up
             False when we timed out waiting
@@ -896,7 +907,19 @@ class Notifier:
         # Work around a bug where older Synapse versions gave out tokens "from
         # the future", i.e. that are ahead of the tokens persisted in the DB.
         max_token = await id_gen.get_max_allocated_token()
-        token = token.bound_stream_token(max_token)
+        if max_token < token.get_max_stream_pos():
+            # Log *something* as we consider this as a Synapse programming error
+            # (assuming no malicious user manipulation of the token) (we shouldn't be
+            # handing out future tokens).
+            #
+            # We don't assert as the whole point of bounding is so that we can recover
+            # gracefully.
+            logger.error(
+                "Bounding token from the future: token: %s, bound: %s",
+                token,
+                max_token,
+            )
+            token = token.bound_stream_token(max_token)
 
         # Start waiting until we've caught up to the `stream_token`
         start = self.clock.time_msec()
diff --git a/synapse/streams/events.py b/synapse/streams/events.py
index d2720fb959..a5b7ded74f 100644
--- a/synapse/streams/events.py
+++ b/synapse/streams/events.py
@@ -149,6 +149,14 @@ class EventSources:
                     ].get_max_allocated_token()
 
                     if max_token < token_value.get_max_stream_pos():
+                        # Log *something* as we consider this a Synapse programming error
+                        #
+                        # We don't assert as the whole point of bounding is so that we can recover
+                        # gracefully.
+                        #
+                        # Old versions of Synapse could advance streams without persisting anything in
+                        # the DB (fixed in https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/pull/17229) and on
+                        # restart, those updates would be lost.
                         logger.error(
                             "Bounding token from the future '%s': token: %s, bound: %s",
                             key,
diff --git a/synapse/types/__init__.py b/synapse/types/__init__.py
index 6e68123e62..d127be98ed 100644
--- a/synapse/types/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/types/__init__.py
@@ -689,20 +689,6 @@ class AbstractMultiWriterStreamToken(metaclass=abc.ABCMeta):
         if max_stream <= self.get_max_stream_pos():
             return self
 
-        # Log *something* as we consider this a programming error
-        #
-        # We don't assert as the whole point of bounding is so that we can recover
-        # gracefully.
-        #
-        # Old versions of Synapse could advance streams without persisting anything in
-        # the DB (fixed in https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/pull/17229) and on
-        # restart, those updates would be lost.
-        logger.error(
-            "Bounding token from the future: token: %s, bound: %s",
-            self,
-            max_stream,
-        )
-
         min_pos = min(self.stream, max_stream)
         return type(self)(
             stream=min_pos,