i'm guessing from where a similar thread ended up (http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45375&perpage=6&pagenumber=4), a solution for this problem is hard to come by
Say, you have only budget (margin and/or buyingPower) for 1 trade of 100 shares.....but you have 50 candidates selected...and just want the very first candidate that hits your open-trigger. You can not send all those orders because you only have budget for one....But what you can do is use a additional system in front of TWS, in which you pre-configure all those 50 candidates, all with their own triggers but none of them are send to IB yet. Then let this system monitor in realtime all those 50 triggers, and it will take action immediately when the first hits the target (by sending only that order, and cancel all other candidates if you want). This works very well, because all is managed outside TWS and the IB-systems.
exactly...a middlware of sorts. i'm looking at the button trader demo right now. my ideal software lets me enter the trades and leave the computer.