A warning has emerged that Ethereum (ETH) could fall as low as $2,000.

U.Today, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Oct. 29 that Ethereum's short-term downside pressure is growing as large-scale selling by whale investors coincides with an increase in exchange holdings.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was down 1.37% over the past 24 hours at $2,320. As broad selling pressure persists, investors are reflecting macroeconomic uncertainty after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its October meeting.

Market analyst Ali said Ethereum could fall about 14% from current levels to the $2,000 area. The forecast came after Ethereum met resistance near $2,400 on Oct. 28. On-chain trading volume exceeded $100 billion at the time, but the price failed to break through that zone and later fell below $2,300. The intraday low was $2,290.

Ali pointed to whales reducing positions as one factor behind the recent weakness. He said large holders cut about 160,000 ETH over several days, worth more than $348 million. He said this distribution selling could translate into downward pressure on prices.

Rising exchange balances were also cited as a negative factor. Ali estimated that the amount of Ethereum held on exchanges increased by 100,000 ETH over the same period. That is worth about $240 million. A larger supply waiting on exchanges can increase the amount of sellable Ethereum and add to downward pressure.

Technical signals also tilted to the bearish side. Ali said Ethereum lost support at $2,385 and that a daily chart showed what he described as a break below the lower bound of a "right-angled ascending broadening pattern." He said that if selling pressure continues, and if Ethereum stays below $2,385 while exchange balances remain high, the market should keep open the possibility of a move to $2,000.

Uncertainty has also emerged around Ethereum's network upgrade schedule. The "Glamsterdam" upgrade, set for Oct. 26 on the Hoodi testnet, was postponed and a new activation date has not been set. Core developers decided at the ACDE #248 meeting that additional checks were needed on how EIP-8037 interacts with mainnet smart contracts.

The delay also put on hold the Amsterdam execution-layer activation and the Gloas consensus-layer activation that had been planned for Hoodi. Plans to raise Hoodi's gas limit to 200 million at the same time were also dropped. Developers plan to announce a revised Hoodi activation schedule separately.

With price weakness signals and an upgrade delay emerging at the same time, the market is watching both short-term supply-demand conditions and the network timetable. For now, whether Ethereum regains $2,385 and how exchange holdings move remain key variables for further downside risk.