If you profit $300 per year from this stuff, is that considered a business?
How about profiting $3,000 per year?
Or profiting $30,000 per year?
Where does trading online take on all of the aspects of being a legitimate and identifiable business?
It actually depends on what the law in the location you are defines as a business but from the look of it in my opinion, it is not. Earning an income does not mean owning a business. Just like employees that works in a company, they are earning money in form of wages and salaries but does not mean they own a business. However, if that employee sets up a business by registering with the body responsible for such, and then invoices to be paid in that regard, then he is running a business which I believe is applicable to other jurisdictions as well.
The difference here is that no matter how much an individual profits from its activities, he is subjected to tax as an individual if he income accrued to him directly rather than indirectly if he had set up a business for that purpose.