Spotlight on Morgan Stanley: Analyzing the Surge in Options Activity

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Morgan Stanley MS.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the positions showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with MS, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 12 options trades for Morgan Stanley.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 33% bullish and 66%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $30,505, and 11, calls, for a total amount of $841,089.

Projected Price Targets

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $72.5 to $85.0 for Morgan Stanley during the past quarter.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Morgan Stanley options trades today is 4097.33 with a total volume of 962.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Morgan Stanley's big money trades within a strike price range of $72.5 to $85.0 over the last 30 days.

Morgan Stanley Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global investment bank whose history, through its legacy firms, can be traced back to 1924. The company has institutional securities, wealth management, and investment management segments. The company had over $4 trillion of client assets as well as over 80,000 employees at the end of 2022. Approximately 50% of the company's net revenue is from its institutional securities business, with the remainder coming from wealth and investment management. The company derives about 30% of its total revenue outside the Americas.

Having examined the options trading patterns of Morgan Stanley, our attention now turns directly to the company. This shift allows us to delve into its present market position and performance

Present Market Standing of Morgan Stanley

• Trading volume stands at 2,773,894, with MS's price down by -0.41%, positioned at $79.36.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 61 days.

Options trading presents higher risks and potential rewards. Astute traders manage these risks by continually educating themselves, adapting their strategies, monitoring multiple indicators, and keeping a close eye on market movements. Stay informed about the latest Morgan Stanley options trades with real-time alerts from Benzinga Pro.