The "AMT trap" occurs when you exercise and is calculated based on (options exercised)*(FMV - strike price). By not exercising, or exercising a small amount, yo

The "AMT trap" occurs when you exercise and is calculated based on (options exercised)*(FMV - strike price). By not exercising, or exercising a small amount, you will not be subject to AMT. However, I completely agree with your sentiment that knowingly granting vanilla ISOs to early employees which require any double digit percentage of salary to exercise as they vest is quite cruel, especially those that do not understand the dynamics of the "AMT trap".