Embodiments relate to reducing operand store compare penalties by detecting potential unit of operation (UOP) dependencies. An aspect includes a computer system for reducing operation store compare penalties. The system includes memory and a processor. The system performs a method including cracking an instruction into units of operation, where each UOP includes instruction text and address determination fields. The method includes identifying a load UOP among the plurality of UOPs and comparing values of the address determination fields of the load UOP with values of address determination fields of one or more previously-decoded store UOPs. The method also includes forcing, prior to issuance of the instruction to an execution unit, a dependency between the load UOP and the one or more previously-decoded store UOPs based on the comparing.