Some people may feel compelled to take action when they see a volatile stock market, and for one 24-year-old Reddit user, this week’s dramatic market correction was the time to buy on a dip.

Unfortunately, it backfired.

The Vancouver-based user, a financial analyst at a Canadian pharmacy who earns $50,000 a year, said he lost his entire savings ($10,000) trying to buy the dip, and he wrote in his thread about using his credit card to trade CFDs (contract for differences), which are investments that mirror assets the trader doesn’t actually own. He initially funded his trading account with $4,000, but when he got margin called a few times (which means the broker demanded he put more money in to meet minimum requirements), he ended up investing $10,000.

“When I realized what was going on, it was already too late,” he said. “My broker closed my position and I ended up losing all of it.” He transferred his savings to his credit card, and is using other investment accounts to pay as much as he can.

See: The odds of day trading yourself to a profit are lower than you expect

Some Reddit users responded to the thread with empathy, while others mimicked what a strict parent or financial adviser would say. One said “Don’t gamble, not worth it. Build up your assets with honest work and time, it all has more value that way anyways. With gambling, enough is never enough.”

One user hoped others were listening in. “We need more stories like this to show the reality: The only financially responsible move on the stock market is to invest on the long term and well-diversified,” user “Goodman1988” wrote.

Everything you need to do in your 20s for a great financial future

“ ‘If you want to compete on that level, you need the weapons. It’s like going to a gunfight with a knife.’ ” — Chris Chen, Insight Financial Strategies

Advisers warn clients not to try day trading

The internet lit up with questions and investment firms’ websites and apps were down after investors were flooding their pages to check accounts following the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s DJIA, -0.87% volatile week.

Meanwhile, financial planners were telling their clients to remain calm and to ride out the roller-coaster-like volatility the market has since been experiencing.

“ ‘You are competing with hedge funds and other Wall Street sharks who have a lot more background and resources.’ ” — Chris Chen, Insight Financial Strategies

Along with advice like “think of the long-term” and “don’t check your accounts,” advisers often warn their clients not to try day trading — especially in such a volatile environment. “If you don’t have the money, you probably shouldn’t buy it,” said Rose Price, a partner and financial adviser at VLP Financial Advisors in Vienna, Va. “You shouldn’t jump into day trading unless doing it consistently, otherwise you become a statistic.” Day trading is a full-time job, she said.

Also see:Hey day traders: Here are some tax strategies for you

Trading the way this Reddit user did is not only dangerous because it’s hard to time the market, but it’s also extremely competitive. “You are competing with hedge funds and other Wall Street sharks who have a lot more background and resources, and who have instant information,” said Chris Chen, a financial adviser at Insight Financial Strategies in Waltham, Mass.

“If you want to compete on that level, you need the weapons,” Chen said. “It’s like going to a gunfight with a knife.” Day trading in a consistent bull market, like the past year and a half has been, can be easier, since you buy, see the prices go up and sell to make a profit. But during volatility, it’s almost impossible to tell what will happen and how long the ups and downs will sustain, he said.

Never invest more than you can afford to lose

There’s one more important factor in all of this: Never use money you actually need, or trade with a credit card. The original poster said he didn’t know what to do now, since he had just gotten a car and was paying more than $200 a month for car insurance, as well as paying $1,000 for a mortgage he shares with his father and $1,000 for personal expenses.

He’s also saving up for his CPA exam and travel. “I’m back to zero. I can gamble and enter the market with my leveraged CFDs and wait for it to bounce back up, but that’s stupid,” he wrote.

“There is nothing to tell you,” one person said. “You learned an important lesson today. If you want to trade, that’s fine, but don’t ever do it with money you can’t afford to lose.”

So what now? Reddit users suggested getting a personal loan to pay off in five or six years, so that he would have small monthly payments as opposed to big debt looming over his head, and getting a second job to get out of debt fast. “When you’re day trading, you’re not really investing, you’re speculating,” Chen said. “It’s a bit like a casino. You don’t want to bet more than you can afford lose.”

The Reddit poster said his most valuable lesson was not to use his credit card. “I almost maxed out my credit card, thinking I’ll get big returns,” he told MarketWatch. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. I had to accept that I have lost my money and now have debt to pay.”

He intends to aggressively pay down his debt and start saving again. He’s been in this situation before, and had earned $10,000 in returns in the past. “My only problem was I spent a lot thinking I’ll keep those gains forever,” he said. “I’ll be more careful and think longer-term in the future.”