I want also add to the above, that converting between cryptocurrencies eats up little bit more commissions, than just buying a cryptocurrency in an order book on Binance exchange. So I always use the second option.
are you sure about this?
last time i checked the convert method was there to only let users buy or sell at market price instead of placing a buy or sell order at their desired price and wait for it to be filled. that means the commissions should also be the same.
As far as I know, the "convert" method having higher fees than the typical orderbook method only applies to Coinbase("convert", higher fees) and CoinbasePro(orderbook, lower fees), but not with Binance. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though.