Mechanisms are provided for “direct mode” (in-band) performance loss measurement in computer networks where packet loss is measured directly in the data plane using techniques based on ECMP paths. Counters on each of an ingress node and an egress node are configured by a network controller to count traffic for indicators associated with different equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) paths through a network between ingress and egress nodes. Each indicator is toggled on or off during a measurement interval during which traffic is measured by the traffic counters on the ingress and egress nodes for each ECMP path. The traffic counters (measured in bytes/packets) from the ingress and egress nodes are sent via event driven telemetry to the network controller for performance loss measurement determination.