Who/What decides the price?

Could someone more in the know than I assist me with working out what/who decides the price of a particular instrument? For example, if the US has bad news, and this devalues USOIL, who decides or what decides how much value is wiped off? I guess it’s algorithms, world banks etc, but I wondered if…

If price drops there are no buyers, or there are more sellers than buyers
If price goes up, there is more buyers than sellers, or no sellers.
That all mate, dont over think it, up and down.

Who are the buyers?

I wonder if I change my original question from a "who/what" to a "how", whether that would make a difference in the answer?
I'm just really interested in understanding what happens to decide the price of USOIL (For example).

Putin

The price is decided by the exchange (for the respective product), that is its job. The exchange brings buyers and sellers together. You always need both to set a new price. If there are no buyers but sellers, sellers will at some point offer for lower prices until someone buys. If there are buyers but no sellers, the opposite happens (buyers will offer more money for the desired product). Technically, this happens via limit orders, which sit in the order book at a certain price with a specified quantity. The price you see is always the price at which a trade was last concluded, means: the buyer and seller have come together.
I now put product XYZ up for sale for USD 1.20 ( in practice: I want USD 1.20 for XYZ and offer a total of 10 units). If the current price (i.e. the price of the last transaction) is now lower and no one offers it for a better (i.e. lower) price and someone either places a buy limit order for this or a higher price or places a market order (in Metatrader this would be the buy/sell button or a normal pending order), then he buys all or some of my units of XYZ and the price rises to USD 1.20. Unlike a limit order, a market order does not have a price, but only a quantity, so it says: I want to buy/sell x units of XYZ at the best possible price (which is the price of the nearest limit order offering the desired product).
Now, who the buyers (and sellers) are, naturally depends very much on the product being traded. In the case of oil and other commodities such as wheat, corn, soybeans, LNG and so on, we're talking about the futures market and only a small part of the supply ends up on the futures market at all. The producer uses it to secure a price for a later delivery, such as oil that has not yet been extracted or crop that has not yet been harvested. Buyers use the market either to secure delivery for a certain price, no matter what the spot market will be at the time, or they speculate with the product. Speculators do not intend to take delivery, but to sell their position at the latest shortly before the due date to someone willing (and able!) to take delivery, hoping to sell for more than they bought it. This ability can sometimes be a problem, especially with oil and was a driver for the brief negative prices on the futures markets at the beginning of the Corona pandemic. Oil had been extracted, logically it can no longer be pressed into the well, but at the same time inventories are full because demand has suddenly collapsed due to lockdowns. It's a bit uncomfortable if you, as a speculator, now only have an office, perhaps even a private yacht in the marina but no empty supertanker at anchor ;-) Another group can be found at both the producer and the consumer end: Hedgers. They take part in the market to hedge against adverse price effects. With kerosene futures, for example, that could be airlines, with oil, anyone who is affected by the oil price, transport and logistics are probably the most affected group here, but oil is important for numerous other sectors.

The events happening in the market usually are the main reason of price changes.

That's not true because in order for a transaction to be settle on each buyer there should be a seller (and vice versa)

It‘s not the number of buyers/sellers, but rather the size of it. One huge buyer will make price move up compared to many small sellers selling at a smaller size.

yeah obviously

OK maybe english is not your first language-yeah thats why I also wrote or there are more sellers than buyers If price goes up etc etc

also I would like to ask you a question, did your girlfriend give you that name handle?

Take another guess

The Forex market is a decentralized market, which means that there is no central authority or exchange that sets the prices. The prices are determined by the supply and demand of the currencies in the market, and are influenced by a variety of factors such as economic data, political events, and market sentiment.
The market participants who decide the price of the currency pairs include:

1. Retail traders: Individuals who buy and sell currencies for personal gain.
2. Commercial and investment banks: They trade currencies for their own account and also provide liquidity to the market.
3. Central banks: They participate in the market to stabilize their currencies or to achieve monetary policy objectives.
4. Hedge funds and other institutional investors: They trade currencies as a part of their investment portfolio.

All of these market participants buy and sell currencies at different prices, and the price of a currency pair is determined by the point at which the supply and demand are in balance. As new information and market conditions change, the supply and demand for currencies will also change, leading to changes in the prices of the currency pairs.

Honestly, it’s just the supply and demand of that currency in the market. But the reason why supply and demand fluctuate can be influenced by many things, including economic indicators, political events, natural disasters, and global news. So, it's a mix of different factors.