Alex boy my advice: just learn the IB API, and forget all the other at the moment useless stuff. You will need at least 3 weeks for this if you want autotrading with your system. You can test your program by connecting to a paper trading account of yours at IB (there is also a "demo" server, but I heard it will be taken off by the end of this month). Ah, I forgot you are using MC, in that case I can't judge, I just mean the raw IB API with its C++ and Java interfaces (I think there are even some more interfaces avail). In case you didn't know: IB API does not need any other program (except TWS or the IB gateway program), meaning: you just put your system into your own EXE and that EXE uses the API, ie. connects directly to IB... BTW, there is also a mailing list on IB TWS API at yahoo groups: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TWSAPI/info
Its about security and speed and best setup / best price - Im the trader/problem solver and my friend is the coder
And where will your IB gateway be running? IMHO you are making things unnecessarily too complicated... ;-)