diff --git a/swarm/storage/localstore.go b/swarm/storage/localstore.go
index 2cbb269aa7..88b27bd6ef 100644
--- a/swarm/storage/localstore.go
+++ b/swarm/storage/localstore.go
@@ -211,6 +211,11 @@ func (self *LocalStore) GetOrCreateRequest(key Key) (chunk *Chunk, created bool)
 	return chunk, true
 }
 
+// RequestsCacheLen returns the current number of outgoing requests stored in the cache
+func (self *LocalStore) RequestsCacheLen() int {
+	return self.memStore.requests.Len()
+}
+
 // Close the local store
 func (self *LocalStore) Close() {
 	self.DbStore.Close()
diff --git a/swarm/swarm.go b/swarm/swarm.go
index 6b235118f8..0670446965 100644
--- a/swarm/swarm.go
+++ b/swarm/swarm.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ var (
 	startCounter       = metrics.NewRegisteredCounter("stack,start", nil)
 	stopCounter        = metrics.NewRegisteredCounter("stack,stop", nil)
 	uptimeGauge        = metrics.NewRegisteredGauge("stack.uptime", nil)
-	cacheSizeGauge     = metrics.NewRegisteredGauge("storage.db.cache.size", nil)
+	requestsCacheGauge = metrics.NewRegisteredGauge("storage.cache.requests.size", nil)
 )
 
 // the swarm stack
@@ -420,6 +420,7 @@ func (self *Swarm) periodicallyUpdateGauges() {
 
 func (self *Swarm) updateGauges() {
 	uptimeGauge.Update(time.Since(startTime).Nanoseconds())
+	requestsCacheGauge.Update(int64(self.lstore.RequestsCacheLen()))
 }
 
 // implements the node.Service interface