CME Group (CME) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · CMESell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling CME Group RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of CME today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in CME. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →Related calculators: RSU Lot Order Calculator · Stock Concentration Calculator
About CME Group
CME Group (CME) is a public Fintech company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Chicago, IL.
Equity grants at CME Group typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).
CME Group Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, operates exchanges and provides clearing services for trading in financial derivatives such as futures contracts, options, and swaps. Its exchanges include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and the Commodity Exchange (COMEX). The company also owns 27% of S&P Dow Jones Indices. The company operates the Globex Trading System, an electronic trading platform that allows customers in approximately 150 countries to trade futures and options contracts. The company also operates two platforms for spot market trading: BrokerTec, which facilitates dealer-to-dealer trading in fixed-income products, and EBS, which provides spot trading in foreign exchange markets. CME Clearing serves as a counterparty to every transaction cleared by the company.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange traces to an 1898 butter and egg board, demutualized in 2000, listed in 2002, and then acquired the Chicago Board of Trade in 2007 and NYMEX in 2008. It operates the dominant markets in interest rate futures, equity index futures including the E-mini S&P 500, energy, agricultural, and metals contracts, plus the clearing house that stands between counterparties. Revenue rises with volatility and with hedging demand, making rate-cycle turning points unusually good for it. Headquarters are in Chicago.
Sources: cmegroup.com · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at CME Group
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-08-17.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CME Group.
CME Group (CME) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
All CME Group tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →
CME Group equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my CME Group RSUs at vest?
- CME Group restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does CME Group grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at CME Group typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do CME Group RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. CME Group restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
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