Thanks all for the advice. I've come to the conclusion I don't understand this well enough to continue right now with the knowledge and funds I have, so I will withdraw my funds and endeavour to learn more before trying again.

I may have come across as though I was annoyed at this outcome, but actually I was more just confused and didn't know how to find the explanation myself. I'm glad I tried and learned some more, even though I may have actually lost a small amount of dollars  I now realise I just need to do a lot more research.

Thanks again for the replies, and for anyone still interested in a newbies first foray into trading, here is some more info from the trades:

Date   Pair   Type   Side   Average   Price   Executed   Amount   Total   Trigger Conditions   Status   
2021-09-02 15:46:19   BTC/USDT   Limit   
Buy
49556   49556   0.01123   0.01123   556.51388 USDT   _   
Filled

exchange-TradeOrdersTable-TradingTotal:

556.51388 USDT
Order No.
7392814677
Date   Trading price   Executed   Transaction Fee:   Total   
Role
2021-09-02 15:57:00   49556.00   0.01120   0.00001120 BTC   555.02720000 USDT   Maker
2021-09-02 15:57:00   49556.00   0.00003   0.00000003 BTC   1.48668000 USDT   Maker
2021-09-02 14:35:47   BTC/USDT   Limit   
Sell
50205   50205   0.0111   0.0111   557.2755 USDT   _   
Filled

So, I made my first 'day trade' today. I thought I'd done well to get ~ $5 margin from it, but when I went to check the actual profit it, it was only ~ $1. What gives?

I'm using binance and I think it said the fee for spot trading was 0.075%? I checked the order history and it said it had taken around 0.00001120 BTC in fees. Okay, fine but where has the other $3.60 got to?  forgive me if I'm being dumb somehow but that sort of fee seems awfully high for one spot trade.