What is MS max pain this week?

MS max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-05-22) is $192.50. Total call open interest: 3,645. Total put open interest: 4,158.

What is max pain in options?

Max pain is the strike price where option holders (buyers of both puts and calls) would collectively lose the most money at expiration. It represents the point of maximum financial pain for option buyers, and theory suggests stock prices tend to gravitate toward max pain as expiration approaches.

Home Options MSMax Pain

MS

Morgan StanleyClose $197.77EOD only

Max Pain

$192.50

Next expiry May 22, 2026

Expected Move

±$4.05

2.0% from close

Price Gap

-5.27

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Low premium

P/C OI

1.33

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

3/4

Partial coverage

Published snapshot: May 20, 2026 close

End-of-day snapshot

This page reflects MS options positioning from the latest published market-close snapshot. Intraday price and contract changes are not displayed.

Published Snapshot

May 20, 2026 close

Max Pain — MS

Data as of market close May 20, 2026

Open Available Reports (3/4)

Nearest listed expiration 2026-05-22 shows max pain at $192.50 (5.27 below spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$192.50

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$4.05

±2.0%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

3,645

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

4,158

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

1.14

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$197.77

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-05-22

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-05-08	$187.50	5/8/2026, 11:21:49 PM
2026-05-15	$182.50	5/15/2026, 11:24:46 PM
2026-05-22NextUpdated	$192.50	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-05-29	$190.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-06-05	$190.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-06-12	$190.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-06-18	$170.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-06-26	$185.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-07-17	$180.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-08-21	$185.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-09-18	$170.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-10-16	$175.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-11-20	$175.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2026-12-18	$150.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2027-01-15	$160.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM
2027-03-19	$180.00	5/20/2026, 11:19:23 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-05-22 at max pain $192.50.

MS pain by strike for 2026-05-22 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
90	0	38134250	38134250
100	0	33977250	33977250
130	6000	21506250	21512250
135	7000	19434250	19441250
140	8000	17364750	17372750
145	9000	15347750	15356750
150	10000	13331250	13341250
155	11000	11317750	11328750
160	12000	9310750	9322750
162.5	13500	8333500	8347000
165	15000	7360500	7375500
167.5	29000	6482000	6511000
170	46000	5608500	5654500
172.5	66750	4755000	4821750
175	90500	3906250	3996750
177.5	116250	3111500	3227750
180	150000	2335250	2485250
182.5	199000	1623250	1822250
185	249750	1096750	1346500
187.5	334750	642500	977250

How to Read Max Pain

Compare pin-risk and strike-pressure across expirations from the latest published close.

What max pain measures

Max pain is the strike where option holders would collectively lose the most at expiration, based on open interest across the listed chain.

How traders use it

It is most useful as a possible pinning zone, especially when spot is already trading near a crowded strike into expiration.

What can break it

Strong directional flows, news, or fast spot moves can overwhelm any pinning tendency, so max pain should support a thesis rather than drive it alone.

The closer you are to expiration, the more useful this becomes as context and the less useful it is as a standalone prediction.