What is MS max pain this week?

MS max pain for the nearest expiration (2026-08-21) is $210.00. Total call open interest: 21,338. Total put open interest: 18,685.

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 $217.55EOD only

Max Pain

$210.00

Next expiry Aug 21, 2026

Expected Move

±$4.92

2.3% from close

Price Gap

-7.55

Distance to max pain

IV Rank

Low premium

P/C OI

1.35

Slightly put-heavy

Consensus

3/4

Partial coverage

Published snapshot: Aug 18, 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

Aug 18, 2026 close

Max Pain — MS

Data as of market close Aug 18, 2026

Open Available Reports (3/4)

Nearest listed expiration 2026-08-21 shows max pain at $210.00 (7.55 below spot). Use this page to evaluate pin-risk zones, strike pressure, and open-interest concentration before selecting trade structure.

Max Pain Strike

$210.00

Nearest expiry

Expected Move

±$4.92

±2.3%

Days to Expiry

Calendar days

Total Call OI

21,338

Nearest expiry

Total Put OI

18,685

Nearest expiry

P/C OI Ratio

0.88

Put-heavy

Spot Price

$217.55

Published close

Consensus

Open report for full read

Max Pain by Expiration

Pain by Strike

Drill into expiration

Selected: 2026-08-21

Expiration	Max Pain Strike	Last Updated
2026-08-07	$212.50	8/7/2026, 11:24:44 PM
2026-08-14	$215.00	8/14/2026, 11:23:45 PM
2026-08-21NextUpdated	$210.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-08-28	$215.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-09-04	$215.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-09-11	$215.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-09-18	$200.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-09-25	$210.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-10-02	$195.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-10-16	$210.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-11-20	$200.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2026-12-18	$170.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2027-01-15	$175.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2027-03-19	$195.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM
2027-06-17	$210.00	8/18/2026, 11:27:11 PM

Selected expiration: 2026-08-21 at max pain $210.00.

MS pain by strike for 2026-08-21 expiration
Strike	Call Pain	Put Pain	Total Pain
80	0	198997250	198997250
85	1000	189666250	189667250
90	2000	180348750	180350750
95	3000	171033750	171036750
100	5000	161735250	161740250
105	24500	152448750	152473250
110	60500	143166750	143227250
115	96500	133888250	133984750
120	133500	124616250	124749750
125	171000	115401250	115572250
130	208500	106241750	106450250
135	246500	97160750	97407250
140	311500	88201250	88512750
145	378000	79422250	79800250
150	444500	70868250	71312750
155	512000	62619250	63131250
160	579500	54577750	55157250
165	649500	46748750	47398250
170	722500	39307750	40030250
175	800500	32755750	33556250

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.