Geographical distance is a small order effect.
Let's do the computation. The speed of light (at which speed essentially packets move) in a vacuum is approximately 186,282.397 miles per second.
Los Angeles to NY is about 2443 miles. We divide 2443 into 186,282 and we get .013114525...
In other words, it takes 1/100 of a second for light (from our point of view. From the point of view of light it takes ZERO time. All distances go to zero at the speed of light in Special Relativity) to go from NY to LA, or 13 milliseconds, one way. For a retail trader, that makes zero difference.
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