SpaceX (SPCX) NSO Exercise Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · SPCXPlan your SpaceX NSO exercise (federal, state, FICA) and compare sell-vs-hold for long-term capital gains.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$199,080
Sell + invest wins by $20,783 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $350,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$5,075 |
| Additional Medicare | −$3,150 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $18,573 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$5,219 |
| Net at year 1 | $199,080 |
Sell every share immediately; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Exercise + hold 1 yr
| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | $0 |
| Net at year 1 | $178,297 |
Sold 2,678 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,322 shares held 1 yr for LTCG.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're exercising as a current employee.
Both columns are stated in year-1 dollars: sell-now proceeds compound at the market return and pay LTCG on the gain at year 1; any cash paid out of pocket on the hold side carries the same opportunity cost.
Net at year N — by hold period
Estimates only. Excludes AMT (NSOs do not trigger AMT), state-AMT, multi-state moves, and disqualifying-disposition edge cases. Not financial advice.
You calculated one NSO decision. The beta plans NSOs alongside RSUs and ISOs in a single multi-year tax plan.
Request beta access →About SpaceX
SpaceX (SPCX) is a public Aerospace/Defense company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Hawthorne, CA. IPO'd Jun 12, 2026.
Last close: $201.8 per share (as of 2026-06-17).
IPO June 2026.
Equity grants at SpaceX typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, doing business as SpaceX, is an American spaceflight, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence company headquartered at the Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. The company operates 3 divisions: "Space", which conducts more orbital launches annually than any other launch provider, including national programs, and is a major government contractor, primarily from NASA and the United States Armed Forces; "Connectivity", which operates Starlink, a communications satellite company; and "Artificial intelligence", which operates Grok, X, and GPU clusters. The company is credited with advances in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight, and satellite constellation technology. Musk controls 42% of the outstanding shares of SpaceX and 85% of the voting power via his super-voting stock.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Elon Musk founded SpaceX in March 2002 to build and operate reusable orbital rockets. The Falcon 9 has completed over 300 successful launches, and the Starlink subsidiary (a low-earth-orbit broadband satellite constellation) surpassed 12 million subscribers by early 2026. SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025 and employs more than 22,000 people. On June 12, 2026, the company completed its Nasdaq IPO under the ticker SPCX.
Sources: cnbc.com · finance.yahoo.com
Equity comp at SpaceX
- Twice a year (typically May and November), SpaceX organizes a window where employees can sell some of their vested shares to approved outside buyers. The industry name for this is a 'tender offer'. Because SpaceX is unlikely to IPO soon, these twice-yearly events are the main way employees can convert SpaceX equity into cash. Most planning questions for SpaceX employees ('when can I sell?', 'how much will I get?') really come down to the next tender's pricing and how many shares the company lets each employee sell.
- RSUs use double-trigger vesting. Two things must both happen before the shares are yours: (1) the normal time-based vesting completes, and (2) the company has a liquidity event (an IPO or an acquisition). Until both happen, you do not yet own the shares and you do not owe tax on them.
Researched 2026-05-06.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by SpaceX.
Use this calculator to estimate your SpaceX (SPCX) NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA), then compare selling now versus holding through the long-term capital gains threshold. Inputs are yours: grant terms, current price, your income, your state.
Example: at SpaceX (SPCX)'s last close of $201.8, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $60.54 strike creates a $706,300 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $190,701 and $317,835 depending on your bracket and state. The calculator above computes the exact figure for your situation and compares selling now vs. holding through the long-term capital-gains threshold.
All SpaceX tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
SpaceX equity questions
- How is a SpaceX NSO exercise taxed?
- Exercising a non-qualified stock option (NSO) creates ordinary income on the bargain element (the price on the day you exercise minus your strike), subject to federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA. The calculator above computes that tax for your SpaceX grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does SpaceX grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at SpaceX typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise. Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- When did the SpaceX IPO lockup expire?
- SpaceX (SPCX) went public on June 12, 2026. The standard post-IPO lockup runs 180 days, so employee and insider shares generally became sellable around December 9, 2026. Confirm against your own grant paperwork, since some lockups release early or in stages.
- Do SpaceX RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- Yes. SpaceX restricted stock units (RSUs) vest only when two things both happen: the time-based schedule completes, and the company has a liquidity event such as an initial public offering (IPO) or an acquisition. Until both occur you do not own the shares and owe no tax on them.
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