Trust me on the days that you don't make money it is not very fun day trading. You will wish you had the regular paycheck and benefits. Talk to your cousin and see if he can get you up to speed. Take a look at www.stockdaytrading.biz it will give you the basics
I use the lite version of buttontrader. I think i pay $27 a month but it is all I need. They have a neat demo I think their site is www.buttontrader.com It is a dome type. IB and BT are real fast. I can be in and out as fast as I want to be.
If I were you, and have a nice sum of money. I would take some of it and put it in a business that generates cash. Get you some bread and butter coming in. Paper trade for a while and if you become profiable open up a small account at ib and see how it works in a real market.
I came across this stock the other day and it has to do with this site www.gofish.com I just wanted to know if anybody has any opinions on it symbol is gofh Here is also a shot on how their traffic has been growing by alexa
If you have an ordinary CPA or a trader CPA for that matter, I would run your brokerage account through gainskeeper or one of those other programs that figures it all out for you and give that to your CPA. That should save you a lot of money, rather then have him spends hours figuring it out.