No, because the exercise is taxed as income at the time of the exercise. If you sell it, there's not _more_ tax to be paid, because your gain after the exercis

No, because the exercise is taxed as income at the time of the exercise. If you sell it, there's not _more_ tax to be paid, because your gain after the exercise is zero. If you sell it after some, you'll pay long-term capital gains rates on the delta between your sale price and your exercise price. Exercise-and-hold is a bad idea for most people in most cases.