If You can live with a 10% return 5k per year and on top of that grow your account another 20% or so per year You may be able to spend 10k per year in few years. Or Go all in on something to build the necessary capital requirements according to your needs.
50k with leverage you can certainly find out if you're a good enough trader but to make a real living you'd need to deposit more money for sure.
Sure, if you can make 200% returns a year. But that strategy that makes 200% a year will blow you up for 1000%, if it fails. Work on the statistically proven strategy and stop day dreaming. You will know if $50k is enough.
%% Average SPY return is 11-12%; is $5,500 @ year enough?? Depends on how good a money manger ,debt free, business man you are. MORE than few have done it with much less; but they were exceptional+ sometimes used leverage. Paid for real estate,single good hunter or fisher helps, single, use budget, low taxes,+ making 25% on SPY like his year; but trading50k as per plan instead of 75K[25% on 50k, now 75k]. Some people live off the power grid [solar]for next to nothing, not me. .I've used leveraged ETFs many times but cash ETFs some times, so no leverage could be an advantage. Jim Rogers got divorced \his 1st wife wanted to buy furniture\oops, while he was trying to build his fund..............................................................
1 MES contract over 180 trading days, profit $7328. So that's $40 a day. Draw downs of 30% really bad month, so you need $1600 overnight plus another $2200 for the draw down=$3800 per micro contract. Say triple that in case your system fails and time to readjust=$11400 per micro contract. $50K to trade four contracts of MES = average profit $160 per day x 22 trading days= $3520 monthly.