Penny stocks are shell companies, semi-bankrupt zombies, and obsolete business models. Their optimistic marketing will tell you otherwise, but these are usually sad stories with a few parasitic stakeholders collecting rents at the expense of equity owners lured by slick websites and paid bloggers. There are ways to speculate $1-5k that are higher probability. E.g. options.
For example:
GLD the gold ETF is currently $124.77.
If you think the recent correction means this will not trade lower than $123 in the next 14 days, you could buy a bull call spread by doing the following:
Buy 1 call at the $122 strike
Sell 1 call at the $123 strike
The net price of this position is currently $0.79 per share, or $790 for 10 contracts controlling 1,000 shares. If in 14 days GLD is above $123, your contracts will be worth $1,000. If below $122, $0 (a loss of $790). If between 122-123, somewhere between those numbers.
This wager offers a 26% gain in 14 days with a risk of losing 100%, so it's similar to the most-hyped penny stocks.
The difference is that with options, you have a statistically defined odds of the stock trading unprofitably. In this example there's a 22% chance of complete loss and a slightly higher odds of partial loss. You can dial in your risk/reward level differently than this example or stock to suit your own preferences.
More info:
https://www.optionseducation.org/strategies_advanced_concepts/strategies/bull_call_spread.html?prt=mx