Ok, i am fairly new to figthing games so bare with me, or not 
How do we know that move X is cancelable into Y?
Can I look at the frame data of both moves and conclude that?
Or is it an explicitly coded property of move X which i must learn from guides, trial and error in practice mode, etc?
From my experience almost every normal is cancel-able to special moves. Basically this,[quote=“JOCunha, post:1, topic:7982”]
Or is it an explicitly coded property of move X which i must learn from guides, trial and error in practice mode, etc?
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It depends on the game to be honest. In Nether Realm studios past 2 fighting games frame data was posted. Killer instinct has posted their frame data. However SFV currently doesn’t display frame data. Frame data is used to know what buttons you can use in certain situations. Is not “needed” but it did help a lot.
Cancelling a move is when you cancel the recovery frames of a normal/string of normals into a special move. In games like MKX/Injustice, the cancel indicates which frame the move cancels on. In most if not all fighting games, normals can always be cancelled into special moves. You can never cancel special moves into other special moves (there are exceptions to this rule like Fulgore/Tusk in KI). There are also moves that can’t be cancelled, but it’s usually explicitly stated. The general consensus is they normal moves always Cancel into special moves except hard knockdown normals.