Hi Spin,
direct market access is good, but alt coins have much and quick volatility therefore you should be on 24/7.
Because of lesser time and because of my non existing skills of manual trading I hoped for Zorro.
Poloniex has an API
https://poloniex.com/support/api/(BTW: I have found some bots which trade on poloniex or other exchanges (gunbot, hassobot).)
crypto/crypto vs. crypto/fiat - because I live in the same country as you I need EUR in the end to pay my bills.
But on the other side I want to trade with the newer and smaller altcoins because the have more potential as the older and bigger ones. So I have no other choice as crypto/crypto.
Kind regards, Peter