The Boston Options Exchange today offered the first look at the new exchange’s market structure as it made its initial rules filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The BOX also said that four major global securities firms have become partners in the exchange.

Credit Suisse First Boston, J.P. Morgan, Salomon Smith Barney, and UBS Warburg have all become investing partners in Boston Options Exchange Group LLC. BOX’s formation was announced in February of this year, and the proposed rules under which BOX will operate when it goes live next year will be published shortly for public comment by the SEC. The BOX was founded by the Boston Stock Exchange, the Bourse de Montréal and Interactive Brokers Group LLC.

“Although ours is a new options market, we will be using a proven trading platform from the beginning,” says Luc Bertrand, chairman of the BOX board and president and CEO of the Montreal Exchange. “BOX will use a customized version of NSC, Montréal Exchange’s trading engine. The NSC platform, developed by ATOS-Euronext, is one of the most widely used trading systems in the world, operating at more than 15 exchanges. We are completely at home with this system and are on familiar terms with its strengths, versatility and reliability.”

The BOX will be an equity derivatives market under the full regulatory responsibility of the Boston Stock Exchange subject to the jurisdiction of the SEC.

Initially, BOX will list the 250 top classes of equity options with the intention of scaling up to 600. BOX provides a network for connection to its trading engine with local hubs available at launch in Chicago, New York and Montreal.

The new options exchange boasts five points of differentiation: it will be fully automated; no equity investment is required to participate on the exchange; it will have an open market structure; it includes a unique electronic mini-auction that will attract orders; and there will be multiple market makers in each issue, encouraging free and open competition.