Global Brokerage Inc. (GLBR)

[MJames89]

Of course they can pay off the loan early, in fact, there's a Seeking Alpha article to deal with that very same topic:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2848596-fxcm-considers-sale-of-non-core-assets-how-does-this-impact-its-valuation

It still leads to the exact same conclusion.

You sell assets early, you pay the loan off early, you get rid of tier one early. You still have to deal with tier 2 and 3, and now you have less assets to sell when you dump the company as a whole.

Lower leverage is not good for business, at least day to day (you are right about less risk in case things blow up again). If a client has $1,000 and has 50 for 1 leverage, that client could make up to $50K in trades, technically (though stupid). If leverage is down to 10 to 1, that client can only make $10K in trades. That client makes 5x less in trades, FXCM makes 5x less money. Trades are based on spread and not a flat rate like for stock brokerages so volume impacts commission revenue in a direct linear relationship.