You can go with the hype of DeFi but be careful, and don't invest on price that is too low, look for a coins or project that is undervalued regardless of the price. $2,000 is quite a good amount of capital already, aim for long term and learn how to diversify your investment if you are looking to minimize the riks.
Actually, I believe that major altcoins will be given more attention first, so look at the trading volume of the coins you are planning to invest, usually, a legit project are listed in different good exchanges, so that's the first thing to consider as that's vital, the rest is based on your research.
I won't give a specific coins to invest, but never forget Bitcoin on your investment, it should be the priority.
Today, DeFi projects are in high demand among investors, but it is worth considering the fact that many teams use only the DeFi abbreviation, and their project is very remotely reminiscent of decentralized finance. Therefore, even in this situation, you need to be careful so that the same situation does not happen as a few years ago, when you invested in ico even without the White Paper, wishing to make huge money.