diff --git a/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/Options.java b/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/Options.java
index ed7316b7..bba25d36 100644
--- a/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/Options.java
+++ b/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/Options.java
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ public class Options {
     private List<String> jvmArgsPrepend;
     private boolean splitCompilation;
     private AffinityMode affinityMode;
+    private boolean pretouchHeap;
 
     public Options(String[] args) {
         this.args = args;
@@ -141,6 +142,9 @@ public boolean parse() throws IOException {
         OptionSpec<AffinityMode> optAffinityMode = parser.accepts("af", "Use the specific affinity mode, if available.")
                 .withOptionalArg().ofType(AffinityMode.class).describedAs("mode");
 
+        OptionSpec<Boolean> optPretouchHeap = parser.accepts("pth", "Pre-touch Java heap, if possible.")
+                .withOptionalArg().ofType(Boolean.class).describedAs("bool");
+
         parser.accepts("v", "Be verbose.");
         parser.accepts("vv", "Be extra verbose.");
         parser.accepts("vvv", "Be extra extra verbose.");
@@ -204,6 +208,7 @@ public boolean parse() throws IOException {
         this.forksStressMultiplier = 5;
         this.strideSize = 256;
         this.strideCount = 40;
+        this.pretouchHeap = true;
 
         mode = orDefault(modeStr.value(set), "default");
         if (this.mode.equalsIgnoreCase("sanity")) {
@@ -213,6 +218,7 @@ public boolean parse() throws IOException {
             this.forksStressMultiplier = 1;
             this.strideSize = 1;
             this.strideCount = 1;
+            this.pretouchHeap = false;
         } else if (this.mode.equalsIgnoreCase("quick")) {
             this.time = 200;
             this.forksStressMultiplier = 1;
@@ -239,6 +245,7 @@ public boolean parse() throws IOException {
         this.forksStressMultiplier = orDefault(set.valueOf(forksStressMultiplier), this.forksStressMultiplier);
         this.strideSize = orDefault(set.valueOf(strideSize), this.strideSize);
         this.strideCount = orDefault(set.valueOf(strideCount), this.strideCount);
+        this.pretouchHeap = orDefault(set.valueOf(optPretouchHeap), this.pretouchHeap);
 
         this.heapPerFork = orDefault(set.valueOf(heapPerFork), 256);
 
@@ -380,4 +387,9 @@ public boolean isSplitCompilation() {
     public AffinityMode affinityMode() {
         return affinityMode;
     }
+
+    public boolean isPretouchHeap() {
+        return pretouchHeap;
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/vm/VMSupport.java b/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/vm/VMSupport.java
index 9c2847c5..63192fa1 100644
--- a/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/vm/VMSupport.java
+++ b/jcstress-core/src/main/java/org/openjdk/jcstress/vm/VMSupport.java
@@ -127,6 +127,20 @@ public static void initFlags(Options opts) {
                 GLOBAL_JVM_FLAGS,
                 "-Xms" + heap + "M", "-Xmx" + heap + "M");
 
+        // After heap size is set, check if we can pre-touch it. This would allow
+        // tests to run in fully committed heap without experiencing the occasional
+        // memory stalls. This also provides better safety in face of OS OOM-killers.
+        // On large heaps, this might take a while, so users are allowed to disable
+        // pre-touch for better performance.
+
+        if (opts.isPretouchHeap()) {
+            detect("Enabling Java heap pre-touch",
+                    SimpleTestMain.class,
+                    GLOBAL_JVM_FLAGS,
+                    "-XX:+AlwaysPreTouch"
+            );
+        }
+
         // The tests are usually not GC heavy. The minimum amount of threads a jcstress
         // test uses is 2, so we can expect the CPU affinity machinery to allocate at
         // least 2 CPUs per fork. This gives us the upper bound for the number of GC threads: 2,