Seeing how the gold card is a charge card and because you just got it recently, even though they say they will limit it to 1000 does not mean you will be limited to that amount. Simply purchase a few things and pay it off later. I believe the first 30 days you add a bank account you can only pay once or until your next bill cycle whichever is closer.

You can "top off" your account with some cash,however I have heard of people getting FR'd, I don't see why so I will leave that topic to the more experienced people.

Normally, after 60 days of having the account open you can request a credit increase with AMEX.However, I understand this is a charge card so it may be just that the limit they set will be lifted based off spending and payment patterns.

What do you mean cutting some of the annual fee? As in canceling to get a prorated fee? Cancelling prior to a year?