OptionsAhoy NSO API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: OptionsAhoy Calculator NSO API
  summary: Deterministic equity-compensation calculator endpoints. JSON in, JSON out.
  description: Multi-year equity-compensation optimization engine.
  version: 1.10.1
  contact:
    name: AlphaLatitude Inc.
    email: andrew@alphalatitude.com
    url: https://optionsahoy.com/for-agents
  license:
    name: Proprietary. Free for non-commercial use during beta.
    url: https://optionsahoy.com/terms
servers:
- url: https://optionsahoy.com
  description: Production
tags:
- name: NSO
  description: Non-qualified stock options
paths:
  /api/v1/nso:
    post:
      summary: NSO exercise tax + sell-vs-hold
      description: 'Computes the after-tax payout on a non-qualified stock option (NSO) exercise: federal, state, FICA (Social Security + Medicare + Additional Medicare). Compares selling at exercise vs. holding for long-term capital gains across the chosen horizon.'
      operationId: calculateNso
      tags:
      - NSO
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/NsoInput'
            example:
              shares: 5000
              strike: 10
              currentPrice: 50
              expectedSalePrice: 80
              expectedMarketReturn: 0.07
              ordinaryIncome: 180000
              filingStatus: single
              stateCode: CA
              stillEmployed: true
              holdYears: 2
              volatility: 0.3
              holdFunding: cash
      responses:
        '200':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/NsoSuccess'
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '405':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/MethodNotAllowed'
components:
  schemas:
    FilingStatus:
      type: string
      enum:
      - single
      - married_joint
      - head_household
      description: United States federal filing status.
    NsoInput:
      type: object
      required:
      - shares
      - strike
      - currentPrice
      - ordinaryIncome
      - filingStatus
      - stateCode
      - stillEmployed
      - holdYears
      - holdFunding
      properties:
        shares:
          type: integer
          minimum: 1
        strike:
          type: number
          minimum: 0
        currentPrice:
          type: number
          minimum: 0
        ordinaryIncome:
          type: number
          minimum: 0
        filingStatus:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/FilingStatus'
        stateCode:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateCode'
        stillEmployed:
          type: boolean
          description: FICA applies only when true.
        holdYears:
          type: number
          minimum: 1
          description: Hold horizon. Sub-1-year is short-term and out of scope.
        expectedSalePrice:
          type:
          - number
          - string
          minimum: 0
          description: Expected sale price at horizon, USD per share. Required unless `ticker` resolves it from currentPrice × (1 + trailing CAGR)^holdYears. Also accepts the string "market" to project currentPrice at the S&P 500 trailing average.
        haircut:
          type: number
          minimum: 0
          maximum: 1
          description: Volatility-drag haircut on expectedSalePrice. Either this OR `volatility` is required; if both are supplied, `haircut` wins.
        volatility:
          type: number
          minimum: 0
          description: Annualized volatility (sigma). Either this OR `haircut` is required; if both are supplied, `haircut` wins. Derived haircut = 1 - exp(-(sigma^2 / 2) * holdYears).
          maximum: 5
        expectedMarketReturn:
          type:
          - number
          - string
          description: Per-year median market return rate (vol-drag pre-applied). Defaults to SPY trailing CAGR for holdYears if omitted. The string "market" names that same default explicitly.
        ticker:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Ticker'
        holdFunding:
          type: string
          enum:
          - sell-to-cover
          - cash
    NsoResult:
      type: object
      description: NSO exercise sell-vs-hold result. All dollar amounts are USD.
      properties:
        exercise:
          type: object
          description: Tax bill at exercise on the bargain element (taxed as ordinary W-2 income).
          properties:
            bargainElement:
              type: number
              description: shares x (currentPrice - strike) in dollars, taxed as ordinary income at exercise.
            federal:
              type: number
              description: Federal ordinary income tax on the bargain element in dollars.
            state:
              type: number
              description: State income tax on the bargain element in dollars.
            socialSecurity:
              type: number
              description: Social Security tax in dollars (0 when not employed or already past the wage base).
            medicare:
              type: number
              description: Medicare tax in dollars.
            additionalMedicare:
              type: number
              description: Additional Medicare (0.9%) tax in dollars.
            total:
              type: number
              description: Total tax at exercise in dollars.
            netCashSellAll:
              type: number
              description: 'bargainElement - total: net cash in dollars if every share is sold at exercise.'
          required:
          - bargainElement
          - federal
          - state
          - socialSecurity
          - medicare
          - additionalMedicare
          - total
          - netCashSellAll
        bracketJump:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
          description: Marginal federal bracket change caused by the new ordinary income; null when the income stays within one bracket.
          properties:
            fromRate:
              type: number
              description: Marginal federal rate before the event, as a decimal (0.24 = 24%).
            toRate:
              type: number
              description: Marginal federal rate after the event, as a decimal.
            thresholdAtJump:
              type: number
              description: Taxable-income threshold in dollars where the bracket changes.
          required:
          - fromRate
          - toRate
          - thresholdAtJump
        hold:
          type: object
          description: Exercise now and hold the shares holdYears for long-term capital gains treatment.
          properties:
            funding:
              type: string
              enum:
              - sell-to-cover
              - cash
              description: How strike cost and exercise tax are funded (echo of holdFunding).
            costBasis:
              type: number
              description: Cost basis per share in dollars (the FMV at exercise).
            strikeCost:
              type: number
              description: 'Total strike cost in dollars: shares x strike.'
            cashNeededAtExercise:
              type: number
              description: Outside cash required at exercise in dollars (strike + tax under cash funding; 0 under sell-to-cover).
            sharesSoldToCover:
              type: number
              description: Shares sold at exercise to cover strike + tax (sell-to-cover only; 0 in cash mode).
            sharesRetained:
              type: number
              description: Shares still held after funding the exercise.
            effectiveSalePrice:
              type: number
              description: Projected sale price per share in dollars at end of holdYears, after the volatility haircut.
            expectedGain:
              type: number
              description: Expected capital gain in dollars on the retained shares at sale.
            ltcgFederal:
              type: number
              description: Federal long-term capital gains tax (including NIIT) on the gain in dollars.
            ltcgState:
              type: number
              description: State capital gains tax on the gain in dollars.
            ltcgTotal:
              type: number
              description: Total capital gains tax at sale in dollars.
            afterTaxProceedsAtSale:
              type: number
              description: After-tax sale proceeds in dollars at end of holdYears.
            y0OutflowGain:
              type: number
              description: Opportunity-cost gain in dollars the year-0 cash outflow would have earned at the market rate (cash funding only; 0 for sell-to-cover).
            y0OutflowLtcgFederal:
              type: number
              description: Federal capital gains tax in dollars on the forgone market gain (cash funding only).
            y0OutflowLtcgState:
              type: number
              description: State capital gains tax in dollars on the forgone market gain (cash funding only).
            y0OutflowLtcgTotal:
              type: number
              description: Total capital gains tax in dollars on the forgone market gain (cash funding only).
            y0OutflowForgoneNet:
              type: number
              description: 'After-tax market growth forgone in dollars by spending cash at exercise: y0OutflowGain - y0OutflowLtcgTotal.'
            netAtYearN:
              type: number
              description: Net after-tax value of the hold strategy in dollars at end of holdYears (after subtracting forgone market growth).
          required:
          - funding
          - costBasis
          - strikeCost
          - cashNeededAtExercise
          - sharesSoldToCover
          - sharesRetained
          - effectiveSalePrice
          - expectedGain
          - ltcgFederal
          - ltcgState
          - ltcgTotal
          - afterTaxProceedsAtSale
          - y0OutflowGain
          - y0OutflowLtcgFederal
          - y0OutflowLtcgState
          - y0OutflowLtcgTotal
          - y0OutflowForgoneNet
          - netAtYearN
        sellNowInvest:
          type: object
          description: 'Counterfactual: sell every share at exercise and reinvest the net cash at expectedMarketReturn for holdYears.'
          properties:
            netCashAtY0:
              type: number
              description: Net cash in dollars after exercise tax, available to reinvest.
            marketGain:
              type: number
              description: Market growth in dollars on the reinvested cash over holdYears.
            ltcgFederal:
              type: number
              description: Federal capital gains tax (including NIIT) in dollars on the market gain at the horizon.
            ltcgState:
              type: number
              description: State capital gains tax in dollars on the market gain.
            ltcgTotal:
              type: number
              description: Total capital gains tax in dollars on the market gain.
            netAtYearN:
              type: number
              description: Net after-tax value of sell-now-and-invest in dollars at end of holdYears.
          required:
          - netCashAtY0
          - marketGain
          - ltcgFederal
          - ltcgState
          - ltcgTotal
          - netAtYearN
        holdMinusCashless:
          type: number
          description: hold.netAtYearN - sellNowInvest.netAtYearN in dollars. Positive favors holding the shares; negative favors selling at exercise and reinvesting.
      required:
      - exercise
      - bracketJump
      - hold
      - sellNowInvest
      - holdMinusCashless
    Ticker:
      type: string
      description: Optional public-stock symbol (e.g. "NVDA"). When set, the API substitutes the ticker's trailing CAGR for any unsupplied expected-return / sale-price field instead of requiring the caller to invent one. ~90 symbols covered; unknown tickers fall through to 'required field' 400 errors.
    StateCode:
      type: string
      pattern: ^[A-Z]{2}$
      description: Two-letter United States state code (e.g. CA, NY, TX).
  responses:
    MethodNotAllowed:
      description: Endpoint accepts only POST (and OPTIONS for CORS preflight).
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
            - error
            properties:
              error:
                type: string
    NsoSuccess:
      description: Successful nso_calculate result.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
            - ok
            - result
            properties:
              ok:
                type: boolean
                const: true
              result:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/NsoResult'
              next_steps:
                type: object
                description: 'Constant per endpoint: the free interactive version of this calculator, related endpoints worth running next, and the OptionsAhoy beta for integrated multi-position optimization.'
                properties:
                  web_tool:
                    type: string
                  also_run:
                    type: array
                    items:
                      type: string
                  beta:
                    type: string
          example:
            ok: true
            result:
              exercise:
                bargainElement: 200000
                federal: 65971.25
                state: 18685.210000000003
                socialSecurity: 279
                medicare: 2900
                additionalMedicare: 1619.9999999999998
                total: 89455.46
                netCashSellAll: 110544.54
              bracketJump:
                fromRate: 0.24
                toRate: 0.35
                thresholdAtJump: 201775
              hold:
                funding: cash
                costBasis: 50
                strikeCost: 50000
                cashNeededAtExercise: 139455.46000000002
                sharesSoldToCover: 0
                sharesRetained: 5000
                effectiveSalePrice: 73.11449482169826
                expectedGain: 115572.4741084913
                ltcgFederal: 20967.625132396366
                ltcgState: 10748.240092089694
                ltcgTotal: 31715.86522448606
                afterTaxProceedsAtSale: 333856.6088840052
                y0OutflowGain: 20207.096154000006
                y0OutflowLtcgFederal: 3038.934076952001
                y0OutflowLtcgState: 1879.259942322
                y0OutflowLtcgTotal: 4918.194019274
                y0OutflowForgoneNet: 15288.902134726006
                netAtYearN: 179112.2467492792
              sellNowInvest:
                netCashAtY0: 110544.54
                marketGain: 16017.903846000003
                ltcgFederal: 2402.6855769000003
                ltcgState: 1489.6650576780012
                ltcgTotal: 3892.3506345780015
                netAtYearN: 122670.09321142199
              holdMinusCashless: 56442.153537857215
    BadRequest:
      description: Invalid input or calculation failure. The `error` string names the specific field or condition.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            type: object
            required:
            - error
            properties:
              error:
                type: string
externalDocs:
  description: Integration surface, citation guidance, and roadmap
  url: https://optionsahoy.com/for-agents