diff --git a/start_ocean.sh b/start_ocean.sh
index e21eea9..77b3978 100755
--- a/start_ocean.sh
+++ b/start_ocean.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-export OCEAN_VERSION=latest
 # Must be set to true for the first run, change it to "false" to avoid migrating the smart contracts on each run.
 export DEPLOY_CONTRACTS="true"
 # Ganache specific option, these two options have no effect when not running ganache-cli
@@ -10,6 +9,14 @@ export REUSE_DATABASE="false"
 export KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME="ganache"
 export ARTIFACTS_FOLDER=~/.ocean/keeper-contracts/artifacts
 
+# default to `stable` versions of all components
+# unless `--latest` argument is given
+if [ "$1" == "--latest" ]; then
+    export OCEAN_VERSION=latest
+else
+    export OCEAN_VERSION=stable
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" == "--no-pleuston" ]
 then
 export REUSE_DATABASE="true"