I don't know about day trading as compared to trading regular stocks (not funds and so forth). However I regularly trade small stocks online.
I bought shares in Sun Microsystems when they dropped to $3 and now they are up to about $5.5 or so. I also have other shares which have pretty much held steady, yet give me a nice dividend. Pretty much though I can make between $2/share and $10/share on a regular basis, say once a year. It doesn't sound like much, and it isn't. THing is as you make more money, your investments grow as you re-invest. You can use even just a little bit of knowledge to make a couple of bucks a share.
If you follow the basic rules of investing, then you should be okay no matter what you do. Investing is like gambling. Only put in money that you can afford to lose.
If you're serious. Give yourself a fixed amount you can invest, say $10,000 - $20,000, whatever you can afford. Then play the game and good luck to you. If you start to lose money though, get smart ... not desperate, and don't go getting a second mortgage to keep on investing.
Don't forget there is also the chance that while you're blinking your stocks will crash!
