Core terms
Measured move
A price projection made by adding the size of a prior move to a later starting point, such as a breakout price or a pullback low. It is a target someone chose, not a market level.
Two common versions appear in the courses. In a bull flag, the pole's height is added to the breakout price: a $0.28 pole and a $2.65 break project $2.93 (Illustrative). In an ABCD pattern, D is projected as C + (B − A), the "CD equals AB" claim, sometimes with Fibonacci extensions such as 1.272 or 1.618 × AB.
The projection is easy to fit after the fact. Sequences that reached it are remembered, while those that failed often go unlabelled. "Close to the target" without a stated tolerance absorbs almost any outcome, and allowing several ratios makes it likely that one sits near wherever price stopped. In the Illustrative bull flag example, the high printed one cent below the projection, so the same chart counts as a target hit or a time stop depending on the target rule.
What traders should verify
If you use a measured move as a target, fix the ratio and the tolerance before looking at outcomes, and count every setup, including those that did not reach the projection. Compare its results with a plain R-multiple target on the same trades.
Do not conflate
Trader usage; there is no official definition. A measured move is a projection, not support, resistance or a forecast; projections that look accurate in chart examples are usually selected after the fact.
Primary source
Trader usage: there is no official definition, and platforms and tools may calculate it differently.