If you are just starting out, than I highly recommend you don't put everything into one coin or even two coins.
The best way to build your portfolio is to build it around a "base" coin, either btc or eth.
40 to 60% of your portfolio should be that coin and you will use that to make strategic purchases in the future.

Since $1000 is not a lot, you don't want to spread it out accross a lot of coins, so ideally three to four other alts in addition to your btc or eth.

Definitely DO NOT go for xvg, overhyped, overvalued useless shitcoin.
LCC avoid, typically forked coins don't do very well long term (Bitcoin cash is the only exception).
NPXS is pretty new so you have to watch their development closely.

More than just looking at just low capped coins, you should take a look at their actual product.
If they don't have one, skip, if they do have one, compare it to something similar in the top 100 coins and see if it can do things better.