I’ve done a few $2 trades through a DEX like PumpSwap, and it went through just fine since the fees are ultra-low on Solana. Just make sure the liquidity isn’t too thin or you’ll get wrecked on slippage. As for shorting, haven’t seen any legit options for that unless the token somehow ends up on a bigger exchange with futures.
If you’re launching your own token or holding some that are under the radar, one strategy to watch is using trading bots to enhance liquidity for Solana-based tokens. Some guys are using that to get their coins popping on PumpSwap trend lists.