If you are going to day trade, you will need a larger capital base ($5-$10K USD). You will also need a source of real-time quotes.
Please ignore those ads you see about forex trading with $500 accounts. Those are bucket shops who counter your trades and they quote thier own spreads/prices. I will say if you want to use them in order to get a feel of how your emotional state will affect your trading, you can look at the 500 bux as tutition in your trading education.
Can you make money trading forex well, lets take a look. On the Euro FX contract (symbol 6EZ7) today, the price range was 45 pips. At $12.5 USD a pip, you had a potential for ~$562.5 per contract today. Today was consisered a tight range day, it's usually about double that. On 6EZ7 contract requires $2025 in margin (less for intraday trades). If you average $500 a day (unlikely for most people starting out), that computes to $120,000 per year. A more realistic goal starting out is ($50-$150) per day. Doesn't sound like much, but the secret to trading to take low risk trades but increase the # of contracts you put on. If you can consistently make 100 bux on one contract, when you put 3 or 4 trax on, you've just given yourself one hell of a pay raise.
To put it in perspective here are few daily income targets:
Average $100 per day = $24,000 per year.
Average $200 per day = $48,000 per year.
Average $300 per day = $72,000 per year.
Average $400 per day = $96,000 per year.
Average $500 per day = $120,000 per year.
This is based on 20 trading days per month.
Conversly, you can LOSE serious money trading FOREX or futures.
I've simplified some things but will happy to expand on anything.
In the meantime get a subscription (they're free) to Currency Trader Magazine (
www.currencytradermag.com) and to Futures and Options Trader magazine (
www.optionstradermag.com) and start getting familiar. They have a mini-primer in every issue.
Happy learning and trading!