We consider the question of lookahead in the list update problem: What improvement can be achieved in terms of competitiveness if an on-line algorithm sees not only the present request to be served but also some future requests? We introduce two di erent models of lookaheadandstudy the list update problemusing these models. We develop lowerbounds on the competitiveness that can be achieved by deterministic on-line algorithmswith lookahead. Furthermore we present on-line algorithmswith lookahead that are competitive against static o -line algorithms.