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 8 options trades for Morgan Stanley ( MS ).

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 25% bullish and 50%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $48,850, and 7, calls, for a total amount of $497,736.

Expected Price Movements

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $80.0 to $105.0 for Morgan Stanley ( MS ) during the past quarter.

Analyzing Volume & Open Interest

In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of Morgan Stanley ( MS ) stands at 5764.14, with a total volume reaching 1,318.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in Morgan Stanley ( MS ), situated within the strike price corridor from $80.0 to $105.0, throughout the last 30 days.

Morgan Stanley Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley ( MS ) 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 with approximately 45% of net revenue from its institutional securities business, 45% from wealth management, and 10% from investment management. About 30% of its total revenue is from outside the Americas. The company had over $5 trillion of client assets as well as around 80,000 employees at the end of 2023.

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

Morgan Stanley's Current Market Status

Currently trading with a volume of 9,054,366, the MS's price is up by 1.44%, now at $100.73.

RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching overbought.

Anticipated earnings release is in 27 days.

Expert Opinions on Morgan Stanley

A total of 1 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $105.0.

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* Reflecting concerns, an analyst from Goldman Sachs lowers its rating to Neutral with a new price target of $105.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Morgan Stanley ( MS ), Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.