Plan your Stoke Space NSO exercise
Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPOStoke Space is pre-IPO. Plan your NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA) at any expected valuation.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Seeded from secondary-market data, as of Jun 16, 2026
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$135,998
Hold 1 yr wins by $48,259 over Sell + invest.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $150,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$2,175 |
| Additional Medicare | −$1,350 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $8,185 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$2,300 |
| Net at year 1 | $87,739 |
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
Best payout| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | −$21,161 |
| Net at year 1 | $135,998 |
Sold 2,954 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,046 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 Stoke Space
Stoke Space is a privately held Aerospace/Defense company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Kent, WA.
Last reported secondary-market price: $40 per share (as of 2026-06-16). Your own 409A may differ.
Reusable rockets.
Equity grants at Stoke Space typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).
Stoke Space Technologies is an American space launch company based in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Founded in 2019 by Andy Lapsa (ex-Blue Origin BE-4 engineer) and Tom Feldman, Stoke Space builds Nova, a fully reusable two-stage medium-lift rocket from a Kent, Washington headquarters. The first stage runs on turbopump-cycle Hopper engines, while the second stage pairs a regeneratively cooled metallic heat shield with a 30-thruster ring. Hopper hop tests cleared in 2023, and Zenith first-stage engines are now in flight-capable testing ahead of an early-2026 orbital debut from Cape Canaveral. A $260M Series C closed January 2025, led by Industrious Ventures, doubling total funding to $480M.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · stokespace.com · spacenews.com
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Stoke Space.
Stoke Space NSO exercise creates ordinary income on the bargain element (federal, state, and FICA) at the price on the day you exercise. The calculator works at any valuation, so you can model your exercise cost at the current 409A FMV, an expected IPO price, or post-IPO scenarios.
Example: at Stoke Space's last reported price of $40, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $12 strike creates a $140,000 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $37,800 and $63,000 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 Stoke Space tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Stoke Space equity questions
- How is a Stoke Space 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 Stoke Space grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Stoke Space grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Stoke Space typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise.
- Are Stoke Space shares eligible for QSBS?
- They might be. Qualified small business stock (QSBS) under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202 can exclude federal tax on much of the gain when shares were acquired at original issuance from a C-corporation while its gross assets were under $50 million, and held at least five years. Whether your Stoke Space shares qualify turns on when you acquired them and the company's asset size at that time.
Find another companyAerospace/Defense peers
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Stoke Space equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.